Naruto: Kage Bunshin!
by BearRider
Summary: What if Naruto learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and the special training method that goes with it at an earlier age? [NaruXInoxTen]
1. Bunshins and Libraries

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. If I did, something really really bad would happen to Sasuke..

A/N: Theres a few differences between my world and the canon world. The most notable is that everything happens a few years later. (examples: Ninjas enroll at the academy at 12, graduate at 15. The Uchiha massacre occurs when Naruto is twelve) Naruto is also smarter than the average ten year old should be. I figure if somebody that young can manage to live on his own, he must be pretty bright. Although this may be true in canon also, he always hid it with his mask of idiocy.

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Ten year old Uzumaki Naruto scowled as he watched other kids his age learning basic ninja skills from their families. It wasn't fair! How was he supposed to become Hokage if he had nobody to help him train? He knew the academy was starting in a few years, but everybody else would be so far ahead of him! There was only one person who Naruto thought could help, and that was the Hokage. He always treated the boy well. With that thought in mind, Naruto ran to the Hokage's tower.

It wasn't to hard to get to his office, since most of the guards and secretaries in the tower had seen the boys relationship with their esteemed leader, and found the boy to be a rather interesting person, so after making sure the Hokage had no important meetings scheduled, they let him pass. When Naruto got to the old man, he couldn't help but snicker at the sight of the most powerful ninja in Konoha drowning in a massive stack of paperwork. '_The bane of all Hokages' _Naruto thought with a grin, before realizing one crucial thing '_Oh kami, I'm going to be Hokage!!!'_ When Sarutobi finally looked up from his work, he saw Naruto staring at the stacks of paper wide-eyed, shaking in terror.

"Hello Naruto-kun, what brings you here today?" The old man's words seemed to free Naruto from the 'killing intent' that he thought the paperwork was paralyzing him with.

"Ojiisan! I need to become a strong ninja so people will acknowledge me, but I don't have any family to help train me like the other kids do. Your the Hokage, so you probably have tons of kick-ass skills you can teach me, right?"

The Sandaime frowned at this. He knew Naruto had the potential to be one of, if not the greatest ninja of all time because of the Kyuubi, his heritage, and his determination, but he could only think of a few people that he would trust with the boy. Some of the council had tried to have Naruto raised to be a human weapon, but the old Hokage prevented that from happening. He would have trained the boy himself, but his duties as a Hokage didn't leave him with much free time. There really wasn't much he could do.

He sat there, deep in thought for quite a few minutes, while Naruto fidgeted nervously. Suddenly an idea popped into Sarutobi's head. Because of the Kyuubi, Naruto's chakra reserves were almost as high as his own already. If he learned that jutsu... It would be tricky to teach a B-rank kinjutsu to a kid who hasn't even learned the basics of chakra molding, but the jutsu itself didn't require much control, and he had a feeling that it would be worth the effort. _'Not to mention it will be a nice break from this damnable paperwork.'_

"I think I may have just the solution for you Naruto-kun, follow me" the Sandaime finally said. Naruto, who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, suddenly adopted a look of hope mixed with a bit of joy. The two left the tower and went to a nearby training ground. "I am going to teach you a jutsu that I think can help you tremendously. It is called **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." **He made a hand seal, and a dozen Hokages poofed into existence. Needless to say, Naruto was impressed.

"SUGOI!!!!!!!!! That is so cool!" exclaimed Naruto, with stars in his eyes. Sarutobi laughed at the boys reaction.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** is a jounin level kinjutsu, which I would normally not teach anybody, but I think I can make a special exception for you, since I think this jutsu would be perfect for you."

The old Hokage spent an hour teaching Naruto about the jutsu, the basics of molding chakra, and the proper way to form the seal needed for the jutsu. Not surprisingly, Naruto still couldn't do the Jutsu when the Hokage finally prepared to leave.

"Remember Naruto, this is not an easy jutsu to learn, but I am teaching it to you because I know you won't quit. Work hard at it, and you will get it eventually."

"Don't worry ojiisan! I promise you I won't let you down!" The Hokage couldn't help but shudder a bit thinking of a certain spandex wearing jounin when Naruto used the good guy pose.

"Once you have figured it out, come see me again. There is one more thing I can help you with." He finally responded after getting Gai out of his head.

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Three weeks had passed since Naruto's meeting with the Hokage, and he was getting frustrated. He still couldn't do the damn jutsu! That being said, he refused to go back on his word and let the Hokage down. So he kept at it. Although he didn't realize it, he was making great progress in learning how to control his chakra.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** he yelled for the twentieth time that day. Like the previous nineteen times, absolutely nothing happened. After stomping around for a bit yelling words no ten year old should know for a few minutes, Naruto finally got ready to try again.

"I...will...get...THIS...DAMN...JUTSU...THIS...TIME!!!! **KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!!!!!!!!!!"** In his extreme anger, Naruto accidentally gathered way more chakra than the previous times, and this resulted in the creation of over thirty Kage Bunshins. Naruto stared at his creations for a few seconds before realizing what he had done. After canceling the technique, Naruto broke out into a makeshift dance.

"I did it! I did it! I did it! Ojiisan better be ready to retire soon, because I am close to being Hokage!!!" He yelled out while punching the air in joy.

After a while he finally managed to settle down, and was tempted to go to the Hokage's office right than, but he decided it would be wise for him to practice the jutsu till he could properly control it. It took another week, but Naruto finally mastered the jutsu in a way that would put some jounins to shame. It was on that Saturday that he finally went back to see the Sandaime.

"Ojiisan! I'm back! Check this out... **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" a dozen clones appeared. After dismissing them, Naruto turned back to the Hokage, "See? How was it?"

Although he didn't show it, Sarutobi was shocked. He knew Naruto was a smart kid, and he had the chakra reserves to master this jutsu, but he wasn't expecting him to master it this quickly, and he certainly didn't expect him to be able to create a dozen bunshins without showing even the slightest hint of exhaustion.

"That was...impressive." He finally said. "The reason I taught you the Kage Bunshin is because theres an amazing trick trick that will benefit you in many ways, I think." He couldn't think of an easy way of explaining it to Naruto, so he figured it would be easier to show him.

"Let me show you something. Make a single Kage Bunshin." He said after a moment. Naruto easily complied. The Hokage gestured for the Kage Bunshin to follow him out of the office. After shutting the door to prevent the real Naruto from hearing, he whispered a rather...graphic line from his favorite 'Icha Icha Paradise' book, before punching the clone making it poof away. After waiting a moment, he reentered his office to see a very flustered Uzumaki Naruto. He couldn't help but laugh at the boy.

"Ahh! Ero-Hokage!!!" He yelled at the man. "Why did you do that!?"

After a while, Sarutobi finally stopped laughing and looked Naruto in the eyes. "I wanted to show you the trick." At the boys confused look, he elaborated, "Did you notice how I took your Kage Bunshin out of listening range before saying anything, and yet you knew exactly what I said?" It was starting to dawn on the blonde what he was conveying, "anything your Kage Bunshin sees, hears, or smells is transferred onto you. This makes them very useful for fighting, scouting, and training"

"I can understand fighting and scouting, but how does it help me with my training?" Naruto finally asked.

"Think about it," the Hokage responded, "if you have a Kage Bunshin work on mastering a jutsu, all the progress it makes is transfered to you once it is canceled. Use twenty Kage Bunshins... and you have twenty Naruto's. You could do things that would take weeks in a single day!"

Naruto was gaping like a fish after hearing that. Although he might not know much about ninja training, he knew enough to know that this was very very useful. "THANK YOU OJIISAN!!! YOUR THE GREATEST!!!" he finally exclaimed, causing the old man to laugh. After dancing around for a few minutes, a question dawned in Naruto's mind. "If this jutsu is so useful, why is it a kinjutsu?" he asked.

Sarutobi was pleasantly surprised that Naruto would remember such details, and that would show the maturity in asking such a question. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** is a kinjutsu because the jutsu requires more chakra than is practical for most people. The reason I taught it to you is because you have abnormally high chakra reserves. If someone else your age learned the jutsu, they might be able to create two or three Kage Bunshins before passing out due to chakra exhaustion, yet you managed to create a dozen without looking even the slightest bit tired."

Naruto didn't quite understand everything the Hokage had said, but he got the gist of it. The part about him having massive chakra reserves made him giddy. Although he had no doubts he was going to be a kick ass ninja, to hear that he held such an awesome advantage over most people reaffirmed his own beliefs.

"That is so cool! I am so awesome! That hat will be mine soon, ojiisan!"

Sarutobi chuckled lightly, but his thoughts were eerily similar. _With your ability, and the use of that jutsu, you could become more powerful than you think. Becoming Hokage will be quite possible. Arashi, you would be proud..._

"Don't forget Naruto-kun, I told you there was one more thing I could do to help you." By now, Naruto was on cloud nine. Not only did he master an awesome jutsu, and found out he was a super talented ninja, but the Hokage still had one more thing to do for him! Nothing could dampen his spirits!

"Take this note," Sarutobi said as he pulled out a letter that he had written a while back in anticipation of Naruto's completion of the jutsu, "and give it to the head librarian of the Konoha Library. It is closed on weekends, but she should be there."

Ok, maybe that could dampen his spirits a bit. "The library? Why do I want to go there? Reading is so boring!" The Sandaime had to chuckle at the boy's reaction.

"Think about it this way, the library is filled with tons of knowledge on ninja skills, and with your **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**, you should be able to read through dozens of books and scrolls every day. As an added bonus, the head librarian is a close personal friend of mine, and this letter instructs her to allow you access into the restricted areas of the library once she thinks you are ready." _'Not to mention she is one of the few people I know who believes in Arashi's seal and sees you for the hero you are, so I won't have to worry about you.' _ He thought grimly.

Naruto seemed appeased by that answer, and the idea of getting access into the genin, chunin, and jounin sections intrigued him to no end. Spending a large amount of time reading was a price he was quite willing to pay in order to become a great ninja. "Alright ojiisan! I will do this, and become the best ninja ever!"

Sarutobi laughed at the boy's enthusiasm. He always liked having Naruto around because he would always brighten up his normally boring day. He always considered Naruto to be his adopted grandson. He only wished that he could do more for the boy.

"A few more things before you go Naruto-kun." He finally said. "When you start training, you are going to need supplies, so take this." He said while holding an envelope. When Naruto looked inside of it his eyes widened to an impossible size._ 'Holy crap! Thats a lot of money!' _Was the first thought that came to his head. "Another piece of advice for you, while your Kage Bunshins can learn just about anything, they can't really help you train your body. Therefore, it would probably be a good idea to have the real you do physical exercise while your Bunshins do all the learning" the Hokage added. Naruto nodded in response, it did make sense after all.

"Oh, and one more thing," the Hokage added in a more serious tone, "everything I have given you and taught you needs to be kept a secret. If other people find out I have been helping you, people might start to think I am playing favorites, and you would be forced to quit your training." Naruto knew that this was serious business, so he responded in an equally serious tone of voice.

"I understand and I promise you that I will not mention a single word of your generosity Hokage-sama." Naruto said with a bow. All the seriousness of the situation dissipated when the old man nearly fell out of his chair in laughter.

"Hokage-_sama_? I never thought I would live to see the day when you were so formal!" He had to pause to take a deep breath, "Way to many people call me Hokage-sama as it is, so please, stick with the ojiisan." By now both were practically rolling around on the floor laughing. After a few minutes, Naruto finally left, promising that he would make the Hokage proud.

_'You already have, my boy. You already have'_ Were the Sandaime's final thoughts on the matter.

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After a quick lunch at Ichiraku's, Naruto finally made his way to the Konoha Library. Although the idea of spending time in the library didn't really appeal to him much, he knew he had to do it. He was going to become a great ninja, and a little thing like a library wasn't going to stop him! Even the harsh glares from the villagers couldn't hurt his good mood any. The library was closed, like the Hokage had mentioned, so he didn't let that stop him. He waited till nobody was around to question him about going to a closed library before finally entering.

This was his first time in the library, but he had heard bad things about it. Because of this, he was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the place didn't seem all that bad. It was tidy, the smell was clean, and it just had an air of friendliness to it. Feeling more confident, Naruto started walking around a bit, looking for the head librarian.

"I am sorry young man, but we are closed today." A voice said from behind him. Naruto turned around to see an elderly woman standing there looking at him.

"Ano, are you the head librarian?" he asked the woman. She nodded. "The Hokage asked me to give this to you." He said as he held out the letter that he had been given. The woman raised an eye a bit at this, but took the letter and read through it quickly.

"Ahh.. I see. So you must be Uzumaki Naruto?" she asked. Naruto flinched a bit at this. Bad things tend to happen when strangers recognize Konoha's 'Demon Brat'. The woman didn't miss the action, and mentally scowled. _'How could those bastards treat a kid like that?'_ "Don't worry, the Sandaime has always spoken fondly of you. My name is Yariko Kouri. Sarutobi wrote that you can create Kage Bunshins?" Seeing him nod, she smiled, "that is very impressive. I would be glad to help you become a great ninja."

Naruto's good mood returned in full force. _Another person who believes in me! I won't let you down Ojiisan, Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-san, Kouri-san! I will become the greatest ninja ever!_

Naruto created a dozen Kage Bunshins, which was about the limit he could maintain without exhausting himself. The two spent a while going over the organization of the books and scrolls in the unrestricted section, and Kouri pointed out a few good academy level ninja introduction books, which Naruto's Bunshins started reading. Naruto learned that Kouri was a retired jounin kunoichi, so she had answers for most things Naruto had questions about. She told him he would only be allowed to use Kage Bunshins in the library on weekends, as it is usually quite full during the week, and Naruto couldn't afford to be showing off jounin level jutsu in public.

Naruto found the day to be surprisingly enjoyable. The only trouble he had was when he dispelled his Bunshins, and the large influx of knowledge planting itself in his mind left him with a serious headache for a quick while. '_Going to have to work on that one.'_ he mused. Before leaving, Kouri offered to purchase him all the ninja supplies he would need for a while, as long as he brought the money to pay her back. Naruto readily agreed to this.

The next day was similar to the previous day. Naruto showed up to the library early, only to find that Kouri had already left a stack of books and scrolls about things like basic chakra control, tracking, kunai and shuriken throwing, first aid, and the like. He also got his ninja supplies. Most of it was rather basic stuff, but Naruto still found himself giddy at having his first set of kunai and shuriken. He was also given new clothes better fit for training than his orange jumpsuit. These all came with enough weights to make it troublesome for Naruto to even stand straight. While his bunshins spent the day reading, the real Naruto was at a nearby training ground trying to get adjusted to the weights. He was currently wearing thirty pounds of weight, but Kouri had made sure he had quite a few more weights for when he adjusted to the current amount. At the end of the day, Naruto pondered how best to cancel his technique without causing extreme pain. He finally decided upon canceling each clone one at a time. To his joy, this method worked extremely well in not only preventing a headache, but also in helping him analyze and sort all of the new information.

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The next few days were different for Naruto. Since it was a weekday, the library wasn't available to Naruto. Therefore, he decided it was time to put some of his knowledge to the test. One of the lines in the book on chakra control that he had read stuck out to him:

_It takes heavy training to have both good chakra reserves and chakra control. More often than not, a person either has high reserves, or good control. On the negative side, the bigger the chakra reserves, the worse the control, and vice versa. Generally kunoichis have better control than their male counterparts. _

The fact that Naruto had 'abnormally large chakra reserves' according to the Hokage was a cause for alarm. At the time Naruto believed that it made him an unstoppable ninja, but he had a funny feeling this was going to make learning chakra control difficult. Therefore, he figured it would be the best place to start. He woke up shortly after dawn and got ready for his new training regimen. He started it off by sprinting from his apartment to the closest unoccupied training ground, which was a good distance away (no small feat with his weights) before creating his Kage Bunshins. The only chakra control exercise that he had learned was the leaf exercise, which involved the user putting a leaf on his forehead, and using chakra to keep it there. In theory, it sounded easy, but to the chagrin of the Kage Bunshins he assigned to master this exercise, keeping the leaf from launching off his head like a cannon was far more difficult than hoped.

Chakra control wasn't the only thing Naruto worked on. Like any other ten year old child, having a set of sharp pointy weapons is a dream come true. Therefore, it was no surprise that weapons accuracy was just behind chakra control on Naruto's list of priorities. His knowledge, along with some tips that Kouri had given him, allowed him to become fairly proficient in this rather quickly. Although he was still incapable of hitting his exact target, his shots were accurate enough to be dangerous in a fight. Of course, this wasn't good enough for Naruto, so he kept practicing. The real Naruto continued to work with his weights by doing basic exercises for as long as his stamina would last. (which was quite some time)

His schedule for the week was much the same. Up at dawn, train for fourteen hours, with only a quick break for some ramen at Ichiraku's for lunch, and back to his apartment once night set in. While this may have seemed a bit much for any other person, considering Naruto's previous days involved pulling pranks (which he admittedly did miss.) and running from angry villagers (which he didn't miss at all), nonstop training was actually rather enjoyable. Naruto still wished he had friends his own age, but he figured that it would be easier once he became a ninja and got the respect of the village.

Although he didn't think he was making great progress with the leaf exercise, only being able to keep the leaf on his forehead for a few seconds before launching it, by the end of the week, because of his massive chakra reserves, this slight increase in control made creating Kage Bunshins surprisingly easy for him. Each day he found himself able to create two or three more than the previous, and these he assigned other tasks. To the casual observer, it would look like some of the Kage Bunshins were playing hide and seek with each other, but in actuality, he was utilizing the tips that he learned on stealth and tracking. He even had a Kage Bunshin spend the week going over hand seals till he felt he could create all of them properly, and at a seconds notice.

An odd thing (in Naruto's mind) happened on that Friday. His chakra control was making steady progress, his weapons were getting closer and closer to their targets, and he was more aware of his surroundings and how better to hide in it than ever before, so he decided to assign one of his newer clones to something different: basic first aid. He figured the easiest way to do it would be to give himself a shallow cut, and than let his Kage Bunshin work from there. So with a slight grimace, he took his kunai and drove it lightly into his arm, making a rather shallow cut. He winced a bit at the pain, but didn't make any noise. The Kage Bunshin was just about to treat the wound when both Narutos realized something: the cut had already healed! After discovering this, it didn't take long for Naruto to remember that all of his previous injuries also seemed to have healed quickly, but he had never bothered to notice it before.

Deciding to experiment around a bit, Naruto made a slightly deeper cut. It took a little longer, but the cut healed just the same. Naruto did this a few times, playing the role of the masochist quite well. Although it hurt like hell, he found it to be morbidly fascinating. The only explanation for it that the boy could come up with is that it was one of those kekkai genkai's that he read about. This of course, led him to wonder about the clan that he came from, since he couldn't recall ever hearing about another Uzumaki. Although he stopped questioning his healing ability after deciding that, he never forgot about it either...

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That Saturday, he deemed himself fit enough to add ten more pounds of weight before heading off to the library. Like the last time he had gone there, he found a stack of books and scrolls already waiting for him. He gave Kouri a grateful smile before creating the Kage Bunshins. Although she didn't say anything, Kouri was shocked that he went from being able to make twelve clones to his current number of twenty-three. Than she noticed he was wearing extra weights. _'With that drive he could be jounin level in a couple years'_ she thought.

Like the previous weekend, most of the books that Naruto read were about more Shinobi basics, but there were quite a few books on basic taijutsu. He also found jutsu scrolls for the three E-rank academy jutsus, the **Bunshin no Jutsu**, the **Henge no Jutsu**, and the **Kawarimi no Jutsu. **Naruto even had a few clones check for any information on the clans of Konoha, searching for any clan with a special regenerative ability. Although he did find useful information on some of the current clans of Konoha, his failure to find any information on any possible family was a bit discouraging.

His training worked the same way it did the week before. He kept most of his Kage Bunshins working on the leaf exercise, but he made sure he left four Kage Bunshins to work on his taijutsu, having two spar while the other two observe his stance and made sure the two combatants were doing everything right. This method wasn't perfect, because the Kage Bunshin would be destroyed if it got hit, and blocking wasn't an option for them. Because of this, Naruto would sometimes put his physical training on pause to work on his ability to properly block an attack.

He also had two of his Kage Bunshins work on the three academy level jutsus. Like weapons, jutsus made him feel like a kid in a ramen store, so he was especially happy once he learned **Henge** and **Kawarimi**. Neither of them were to hard for him to master, since he already had a lot of practical experience gathering and focusing chakra from his **Kage Bunshin** training. **Bunshin** on the other hand, proved to be impossible for the young blond. As much as he tried, he couldn't manage to create anything other than a bloated corpse. After a while, he decided that his chakra control made learning such a simple jutsu tricky. While most people would have stopped at that and stuck with the massively superior **Kage Bunshin**, Naruto only used it as extra motivation to improve his chakra control even more.

By the end of that second week, Naruto had finally gotten the leaf exercise down to an art. Not knowing any other Chakra control techniques, Naruto decided it would just be simplest to put another leaf on his body and try and hold both of them. His skill with the kunai and shuriken was good enough that he could hit his target from a good range if he took the time to properly aim. His stealth ability had got to the point where he could walk from his apartment to his favorite training grounds without any of the untrained villagers noticing him. (although he swore to himself that he would continue working on this until he could slip by the ninjas unnoticed also) His skill with academy taijutsu was good enough that he could see just how flawed it really was.

The Sandaime Hokage, who spent a lot of his free time watching Naruto train with his crystal ball, couldn't help but be amazed at what he saw. '_Hes only been training for two weeks, and hes already capable of passing the academy graduation exam? Naruto-kun, you never cease to surprise me.'_

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**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: ** Shadow Clone Technique

**Bunshin no Jutsu:** Clone Technique

**Henge no Jutsu: **Transformation Technique

**Kawarimi no Jutsu:** Body Switch Technique

**A/N: **My first attempt at writing a fanfic. No idea if its good enough to continue. Reviews would be much appreciated.

After the revelation that Kage Bunshins could be used for training in the manga, I got to thinking: If Naruto used this training method for more than just mastering an element, he could become an amazing ninja. In this story, Naruto will be very powerful, but it shouldn't be to surprising. In canon, twelve year old Naruto was able to create hundreds of Kage Bunshins without even tapping into the Kyuubis power. Although like in any real life situation, having to many people decreases efficiency, having a hundred Naruto's would make a day of training at least equal to a month of a normal person training. Do that for a year... and wow. Naruto won't become a god, because theres only so much he can learn at any one time, but he will be very very powerful once he starts to slow down.

As for pairings, I was thinking of making it a NaruHarem, since Naruto is bad ass that way. If I do go that route, it will probably only be three or four girls.

Anybody know a good place to find Japanese names for things? I think they sound better that way, but its a bit tricky since I lack that tongue.


	2. Training and Perverts

A/N: I am back! I wasn't planning on getting this second chapter done so fast, but you guys surprised me. Fifty reviews for the first chapter alone? You guys rock

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Fourteen year old Uzumaki Naruto reflected back on his last four years of training. It could be considered one of the most intense four year training regimens ever, and it showed. The Uzumaki Naruto who people remembered as a loud midget wearing bright colors was long gone. In his place, was a rather tall young man who carried himself with the air of a seasoned shinobi. Although he was lean, he had become quite muscular. His outfit was standard ninja attire: dark, baggy, and sporting many pockets. The large amount of weights on each arm and leg were visible, hinting at his impressive speed and strength.

Although most kids started attending the academy at age twelve, the Sandaime Hokage had given Naruto permission to ignore the academy, since spending three years to learn the **Bunshin no Jutsu** would be a bit of a waste for someone who mastered **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** in three weeks. Although Naruto was a bit saddened by the lack of chance at making friends his own age, he had a feeling that he had made the right choice.

The area that he had excelled the most in was his taijutsu. Although his lack of a real sparring partner held him back a bit, his physical stature more than made up for it. He had created his own taijutsu style, based on his high tolerance to pain and his special regenerative ability. His _Kamikaze_ style (A/N: forgive my lack of originality) isn't pretty, but it had proven to be effective. Moving _into_ an attack could often times cause a foe to lose balance and concentration, allowing Naruto to inflict a devastating counter attack. Blow for a blow, no human could match up with Naruto, and he took advantage of that fact.

The one thing he didn't like about his taijutsu style is that he owed a lot of his success to the Kyuubi. Thinking of the beast left a sour taste in his mouth. Learning about the creature had been a bit of a shock to Naruto, but he found he wasn't really surprised, since the clues had always been there.

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_Naruto was running laps around the training fields when he felt the jolt that usually accompanies a Kage Bunshin canceling itself out. This wasn't the first time a Kage Bunshin had destroyed itself prematurely, as they occasionally found something fascinating enough that they felt the need to share as quickly as possible. Naruto went through his thoughts and sifted through all the data that the Kage Bunshin had provided. It had been reading an interesting looking scroll titled The Bijuu. It took a couple minutes, but eventually Naruto found what he was looking for._

_'The Bijuu, or tailed demons, are a group of mighty demon lords that once walked freely in this world. Little is known about these powerful beasts. Only nine Bijuu have ever been sighted. They are named based on the number of tails they possess, from the Ichibi no Shukaku to the Kyuubi no Yoko. The only thing that has been confirmed about these beasts is that it is impossible to kill one of them. That isn't to say they can't be defeated. Many times in history has one of the great bijuu been defeated and sealed away, although most seals are unable to contain the power of one of these mighty creatures for long. Only a complex seal put on the most powerful of containers could even hope to hold one of them.'_

_'Impossible to kill?' thought Naruto, 'but that would mean everybody has been lying? I wonder what it meant by most powerful of containers?'_

_Since the only real bit of knowledge Naruto had on fuuinjutsu was the ability to create exploding tags, Naruto gave his Kage Bunshins a mental command to search for any bits of information on seals. Kouri had recently given him access to the jounin section of the library, so he had a lot of information to work with. It took a while, but one of his Kage Bunshins finally found the answer he was looking for: The strongest container for a seal was a living container._

_'A living container? So the Kyuubi is sealed into somebody? Who could it be...oh Kami.' At that point, it the answer hit him like a skydiving Akimichi. The glares, the 'Demon Spawn' names, the massive chakra reserves, his regenerative ability, oh, and that complex looking seal on his stomach that always appears when he molds chakra. _

_Naruto sat there in stunned silence for a few minutes, before realizing something rather odd. 'How come I am not surprised by any of this?' Although the idea of having a super powerful demon sitting inside him was a bit disconcerting, Naruto felt a bit of relief at finally knowing why he was so hated._

_There was one final thing left for him to do. With questions in mind, Naruto went off to the Hokage's tower. Once he finally got in to see the old man, he didn't waste any time._

"_Ojiisan, tell me about how the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi." Naruto smirked when he saw the Hokage pale a bit before giving the common answer about how the Yondaime had killed it at the cost of his life. "That was a nice story, but how about you give me the truth?"_

_Sarutobi studied the boy in front of him for a minute before nodding his head a bit, "The Kyuubi was an unstoppable maelstrom of destruction, and nothing we did could even slow the beast down. Driven to desperation, the Yondaime used a summoning kinjutsu that he had created, the **Shiki fuujin**, in order to summon the Shinigami. In exchange for his soul, the Yondaime had the Shinigami seal away the Kyuubi inside of a newborn child...you."_

_Naruto accepted the answer, but he had one final question he needed answered, "Shinigami? Does that mean that my seal is strong enough to contain the beast?"_

_The Sandaime nodded, with the ghost of a smile on his face, "You don't need to worry about the demon getting free Naruto-kun. I have seen many seals in my life, and the one on you is by far the most complex I have ever seen." Naruto felt relief at the answer. It wasn't hard for him to accept the fact that he had a demon sealed inside of him,but the concept of the demon breaking free and killing everybody didn't much appeal to him._

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Taijutsu wasn't the only thing Naruto had improved in. Once he finally got into the genin and chunin sections of the library, he finally discovered some better chakra control exercises, like the tree-climbing, water-walking, kunai balancing, and waterfall climbing exercises. Although he doubted his chakra control would never be good enough for him to ever risk becoming a medic-nin, he found it good enough to the point where he could easily create over a thousand Kage Bunshins, although for training purposes, he couldn't maintain much more than a hundred for a long period of time.

Although the library didn't have very many good ninjutsu or genjutsu scrolls for security reasons, (Naruto grudgingly admitted leaving high level jutsu scrolls in a public place like a library is just asking for enemy nins to kill you) Naruto did collect a modest little arsenal. Being Fire Country and all, most of the jutsu Naruto learned were of that element: **Katon: ****Housenka no Jutsu, Katon: Goukakyuu** ** no Jutsu, Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu, Doton: Shinju Zanshuu no Jutsu, Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu, Futon**: **Daitoppa no Jutsu, **and **Shunshin no Jutsu. **Even though he was a busy man, the Sandaime Hokage managed to get enough free time to teach Naruto the **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. **In a final act of victory, Naruto finally learned the **Bunshin no Jutsu**, although he knew he would probably never use that jutsu. With the use of a chakra affinity card, Naruto discovered that he had an affinity for wind jutsus. Although he wasn't really surprised by this, since he and wind both had a penchant for being quick and purely offensive minded, he was a bit disappointed that Konoha didn't have many futon jutsu for him to master.

His genjutsu supply was smaller, but it was better than most genin and some chunin level ninjas could claim. Although he didn't know how effective he would be against higher level genjutsu, Naruto did train heavily in detecting and breaking the few genjutsus that he knew. Although he doubted that he would use genjutsu often in battle, because of the constant concentration it took, he did find many uses for it. He found that laying a simple genjutsu trap in his apartment did a wonder on the villagers who would attempt to break into his apartment. After two failed break ins, all attempts at vandalism stopped. _'Not sure why Ojiisan had to label my trap an S-ranked kinjutsu though. All it did was make the one who triggered it get mental images of a half naked Orochimaru using his tongue to... ok maybe I do see why it is considered S-Rank.' _he thought with a brief snicker. The first idiot who triggered it still hadn't been cleared from the mental ward...

Another thing that Naruto took up was kenjutsu training. Although at first he was reluctant to take this route, since wielding a blade makes forming hand seals impossible, the Hokage somehow found out about his situation.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

_Naruto was dead tired as he returned home from training. He had just increased his weights again, so he wanted nothing more than to go right to sleep. Sadly, fate had other plans in store for him. Sitting on his bed was a very out of place scroll. 'I do not recall sleeping with a scroll in my bed...' He decided it couldn't hurt to open it. Inside he found a short note from the Sandaime, along with a detailed set of instructions for a seal to hold objects. The note read as follows:_

_Naruto,_

_This seal is a rather simple seal used to seal inanimate objects. It is very useful for a shinobi who needs to carry a lot of equipment without the bulk and weight that goes with it. An interesting use for it could be to put the seal on your gloves. This would allow you to be able to instantly seal or unseal a weapon in order to use a jutsu or if you need to resort to taijutsu. Not that I believe you have been thinking about a weapon of course, but you never know._

_Signed,_

_Ojiisan_

_PS: You rely on speed, so maybe you should look at a smaller blade, like a wakizashi... or two._

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

'_I will find out how he seems to know everything!' _Naruto thought with a scowl. Although he found himself grateful for the assistance, he didn't much care for the thought that the Hokage was spying on him, and breaking into his house to deliver scrolls. _'No wonder he's always swamped with paperwork.' _ It took him a while, but Naruto finally mastered the creation of the seal. He found the seal to be incredibly useful, as it allowed him to carry around anything he could ever need without the hassle that went with it. He had to modify the seal a bit to place it on its glove, because the seal normally works by pouring chakra into it to release the sealed item, but the problem with that is that a lot of jutsus require chakra to flow into a hand when doing hand seals. After many accidents where he would summon his swords while trying to perform a jutsu, Naruto finally managed to come up with an effective solution, by making it so he needed to have his fingers in a certain position before the seal would activate. Quickly storing a blade was even easier, as it just required Naruto to pour chakra into the seal while holding the sword.

Although he didn't care to admit it, he found the old man's advice to be right, as always. Naruto found that using a pair of wakizashis worked very well for him. His self-made kenjutsu style was based on the same principles as his taijutsu style, although it took a bit more practice considering that taking the blow when your enemy is using a weapon could end up being quite fatal if he got hit in any vital area. Still, after a few training accidents leading to a very hands on approach of mastering human anatomy, Naruto felt confident in knowing where he could, and where he could not allow himself to be stabbed. (not to mention he knew where best to stab his foes) As an added bonus, his constant training with two swords eventually led to Naruto becoming ambidextrous. It was a small advantage, but an advantage he would be quite willing to exploit if the chance ever occurred.

Naruto studied tactics along with some of the more well documented Shinobi Wars. He even managed to acquire a shougi and go board, and had a couple Kage Bunshins constantly compete against each other in these games. These helped Naruto develop patience, and a firmer grasp of basic strategy.

Not all of the things that Naruto learned were strictly ninja related. He learned psychology, sabotage, history, proper social protocol, and diplomacy. The idea that someone who had spent most of his life pretty much isolated from society knowing more social skills and being able to read people better than others his age was a bit amusing. He even found himself a passion for cooking. Although he still went to Ichiraku's for lunch every day, his breakfasts and dinners were usually complex meals of his creation. Another thing he found himself enjoying was the massively popular _Icha Icha Paradise, _although he had no idea how one of those books found itself in the library. Of course, he was a bit more discreet about it than others. (somewhere in Rice Country, ANBU Captain Hatake Kakashi sneezed, causing his cover to be blown, making him fail his mission and starting a chain of events leading to him being forced to retire from ANBU and become a jounin instructor)

Even with all of his training, the one thing Naruto sorely lacked was practical experience. Although he wasn't an official ninja of Konoha, and couldn't receive missions, the Hokage did occasionally let slip information on local villages that were having problems with bandits. Although fighting bandits wasn't the same as fighting enemy nin, Naruto did get valuable experience in fighting and killing. It was hard for him to pinpoint his first kill, as firing a ** Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu **into a crowd of bandits isn't very precise, but that wasn't important. He felt slightly disgusted with himself, before remembering something that he had read in a book.

_A ninjas first kill is always hard, and the feeling doesn't get easier as long as a ninja still has any humanity in him. The easiest way to survive the ninja's way of life is to find something to protect. It could be a person, place, or ideal, but as long as the ninja has something worth fighting for, one can survive the harsher aspects of his job._

Naruto found those words to be surprisingly helpful. He thought of the villages that the bandits had plagued and the people that they had murdered. He thought of Konoha, and how eliminating the bandits helped the village that he lived in and worked for. He thought of the few people who saw him as Uzumaki Naruto, and not the Kyuubi. Once he had a reason to fight, fighting became easier. Although he never forgot about his kills, he was able to cope with them easier.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

"So how long do you plan on staying here?" The Hokage asked his visitor.

"I wasn't planning on staying for long. Maybe a week or so to do some research. I want to get more information on the activities of our former teammate. Why?." The white haired man replied.

Sarutobi paused for a minute, trying to think of the best way to answer. "Ah... theres a small favor I want to ask of you..." He finally said.

"Let me guess, you want me to train the gaki, right?" Seeing Sarutobi's nod, the man scowled, "I don't have time to waste teaching some academy brat how to climb trees, sensei."

At this, the Sandaime Hokage chuckled a bit. "You would be...surprised. I actually had him skip on the academy because it would only hold him back." The man raised an eyebrow at this, "He is a genius that Konoha hasn't seen since Uchiha Itachi. Trust me on this one, just give him some instructions, and he will figure it out."

"Alright, I guess I can do that, as long as he doesn't prevent me from my research." Both men chuckled at that, before the man started to leave the office.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." The Hokage said to the figures retreating back. _'Thank you Jiraiya.'_

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Although Naruto was glad when the old Hokage had told him he found someone to teach him a few things, he wondered why he was told to meet his new sensei near the public bath house. He left half of his normal amount of Kage Bunshins behind to keep up with the standard training so he would have enough chakra for whatever he was taught, he proceeded to his destination. He had a sinking feeling that he found the answer to his question about the choice of meeting when he spotted a strange looking old man with white hair. He was wearing outlandish clothes, and his hitai-ate had the kanji for 'oil.' He was currently peeking into the bathhouse while taking notes and giggling perversely. Naruto shrugged, and approached the man.

"Ano, thats not really a good idea, sir. Some of those people are probably skilled kunoichi. You could get seriously hurt." Naruto finally said, causing the strange man to look up from his 'research'.

"Bah! Do you know who you are talking to? I am Mt. Myobokugama's holy master sennin, also known as th..." His introduction and dance were interrupted by Naruto.

"Yo...you...you're Jiraiya-sama!?!??" Naruto asked the man, who promptly went into a little happy dance at being recognized by somebody so young.

"Jiraiya at your service! So kid, how do you know me? Were you regaled by tales of my heroism, or did you identify me by my legendary good looks?"

Naruto blinked at this. "Ah.. actually, I know you because of your great books."

Jiraiya beamed at the praise. "YES! The ways of the super pervert are spreading!" he let out a booming laugh. A very very loud booming laugh. Naruto, realizing the danger that he suddenly found himself in, decided to take a cue and flee. Poor Jiraiya however, didn't notice the danger that he suddenly found himself in, or the fact that the person that he was talking to was no longer there. "You know what? I like you gaki! Eeer... gaki?" Jiraiya finally realized that the kid he had been talking to was long gone. That was also about when he started feeling the massive waves of killing intent emanating from behind him. He slowly turned to see a small horde of women standing there in their towels. This would have been heaven for the pervert, except for one little fact. They were all super pissed.

"Ah ladies, this isn't what it looks like." Jiraiya quickly scanned his surroundings for any possible escape route. Seeing none, he did the only thing a legendary nin like himself could do with any dignity: he curled up into the fetal position and prayed to kami that he would survive this day.

A few seconds later, the screaming began.

A half hour later, Naruto returned to see the carnage. He found himself not disappointed. He found many trees and rocks that had been smashed. Blood was everywhere. In the middle of the war zone he found a large crater. Inside was the bloodied and beaten form of the Toad Hermit. Thinking he was dead, Naruto took the liberty of prodding him with a stick. In a flash, Jiraiya was back on his feet and acting as if nothing had happened.

"Well that was fun!" he exclaimed, causing Naruto to face-fault into the ground. "So your the gaki that Sarutobi-sensei wants me to train?" Seeing Naruto's nod, he continued, "Alright than, tell me what you can do." Naruto complied, and went over a list of the jutsus and skills that he knew. Jiraiya was suitably impressed, judging by the small whistle he let out.

"Alright brat, I got it. I will teach you the jutsu that gave me my reputation as the legendary frog hermit!" With that, he bit his thumb, made some hand seals, and slammed his palm into the ground. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"** A plume of smoke appeared which promptly dissipated, revealing a rather large frog holding a scroll.

Naruto knew about the **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**, as it was the reason that the three legendary sennins got their titles. He was ecstatic that going to learn this jutsu, and that he would be signing the contract with the frogs, which was the same animal that the legendary Yondaime had a contract with. Jiraiya had Naruto sign the contract, and instructed him on the hand seals needed. After a bit of practice, Naruto decided he was ready to try it out.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"** he yelled, slamming his palm into the ground. Like earlier, a plume of smoke appeared, although this one was much smaller than Jiraiyas. When it cleared, it revealed a small orange frog. Naruto sweatdropped at the sight.

"Yo!" the frog exclaimed, before turning to Jiraiya, "What do you want?"

"Eer... actually, I was the one to summon you." Naruto answered. The frog turned to him, before nodding a bit.

"I believe you. Name's Gamakichi, by the way. Next time you summon me, make sure to being me a snack." Seeing Naruto nod, the small frog continued, "I will tell pops about you. Ja ne!" After finishing, Gamakichi vanished with a poof..

Naruto spent the next day and a half summoning different toads. Naruto was a bit surprised by the large amount of frogs, and the versatility that came with them. One frog was a walking flamethrower, another was an armored toad with large katanas, and he could even summon a little toad that had a poisoned tongue! Jiraiya was rarely around, having 'research' to attend to. The toad hermit told Naruto to hold off on summoning the boss toad till the end. Eventually, that time came and Jiraiya took Naruto to a large field, before giving him some last minute tips and running off.

With a shrug, Naruto bit his thumb, performed the necessary seals, and slammed his hand into the ground, releasing a massive amount of jutsu. When the smoke finally cleared, Naruto found himself towering over the land. It didn't take long for Naruto to realize that he was standing on top of the largest frog that he had ever seen. _'Must be Gamabunta'_ Naruto mused. After a minute, the toad noticed that somebody was on his head.

"Oy, why did you summon me?" Said the massive toad. Naruto hopped off the toad, before turning to it and giving it a large bow.

"Gamabunta-sama, I am sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to know if I would be able to call upon your assistance if I ever need it."

Gamabunta looked at the boy in front of him. _'He looks familiar.. ahh I see' _"So you're the one that my son has been talking about. I like you, kid. You are polite, unlike that fool of an Ero-Sennin. Although normally I have my subordinates drink with me before I accept them, I will make an exception for you. Call upon me anytime, although we will have to drink together sometime." After seeing Naruto nod in the affirmative, Gamabunta vanished.

Jiraiya, who had watched the events while in hiding, was again impressed by the boy. _'It only took him two days to summon the boss toad, even though I know he could have done it sooner. Not only that, but he gained the respect of Bunta! I guess you were right, Sarutobi-sensei.' _

The next day, the two met up again. "Ok kid, the last thing I plan on teaching you is this." He held out a hand, and in it formed a sphere of chakra. Although it was impressive looking, Naruto didn't think it looked that powerful. He quickly changed his mind when Jiraiya gutted a tree with it. "This is called the **Rasengan**. It was created by the Yondaime Hokage. It took him three years to create, and four months just to teach me... You have five days to master it." Naruto promptly face-faulted into the ground at this comment.

Ignoring Naruto, who was complaining about slave driving perverts, Jiraiya pulled a water balloon out of his pocket. "Mastering the **Rasengan** takes three steps. The first, is this." With that, he held out the water balloon for Naruto to see. After a few seconds, the balloon started contorting violently, before finally popping. Naruto looked at Jiraiya questioningly. "The first step involves using your chakra to rotate the water until the balloon pops." Naruto understood what he was saying, so he took a balloon and started in on it.

After spending a good hour or so rotating the water, Naruto was getting frustrated. No matter how much force he put into the rotations, he couldn't get the balloon to pop. After thinking back to what Jiraiya did, Naruto came to the conclusion that he was doing something wrong. _'He made it rapidly stretch in different directions, while all I can do is flatten it. He must be doing something different. He did say use your chakra to rotate the water, so how could what he did be different from what I was doing? Its almost like he was using multiple...Bingo!'_

Testing his theory, he was happy to see that the balloon started acting in odd ways once he added in his second rotation. He was not pleased, however, to note that maintaining multiple rotations was far from easy. For a normal person, getting enough control and concentration to maintain the necessary amount of rotations needed to pop the balloon would take a long while, but for Naruto, all it took was a day and twenty Kage Bunshins. _'Heh, so thats how he got so good. Smart kid.'_ Thought Jiraiya as he watched the boy practice. The next day Jiraiya proceeded to show him the second step.

"Nice job, brat. For you, the second step should be pretty simple." Here he held out a rubber ball. "All you have to do is use your chakra the same way to pop this rubber ball. It will take a lot more force than the first step." True to his words, Naruto found that with his massive chakra reserves, the second step proved to be dreadfully simple. Within an hour he was putting holes in the ball, and an hour after that he managed to destroy the ball. Jiraiya sighed at the boys rapid progress _'Kuso! Because of his rapid pace, I haven't been able to keep up with my research!'_

"The third and final step is both the simplest, and the most difficult step to master. All it involves doing is doing what you have learned, without losing its shape." Jiraiya formed a **Rasengan**, but Naruto could tell something was wrong with it. His suspicion was confirmed when the attack only left a spiral marking on the tree he used it on. "With your skill, that would be your end result. The easiest way to learn how to keep it stable is by attempting to form it inside of a regular balloon. Once you can form and hold the chakra without popping the balloon, you will have mastered the jutsu." With that, Jiraiya handed Naruto a box of unfilled balloons before leaving. _'Bastard could have at least blown one up for me.' _

Because of his heavy use of Kage Bunshins, Naruto ended up covering the field he was training in with busted balloons. His wanton destruction of the ecosystem didn't stop him though. Forming the **Rasengan** was easy, but maintaining it for more than a few seconds proved to be difficult. Still, with three days and twenty Kage Bunshins, Naruto got the jutsu down.

"Kuso! When I told you you had a week, I figured you would make it to, but not complete, the third step, although you probably should continue to practice the **Rasengan** until you can create it instantaneously. Now I need to teach you something else to pass this final day by! Hmm.." Jiraiya pondered this for a few minutes before finally coming to a decision. "Ahah. The **Hari Jizou** is one of my personal creations. It allows you to temporarily grow and harden your hair to shield you from enemy attacks. Jiraiya was pleased to see that Naruto struggled with this jutsu, and although by the end of the day he could successfully grow and harden his hair, he still couldn't shape it to properly shield himself.

"Well kid, thats all the time we had to train. Continue to practice those jutsu, because I have a funny feeling that we will meet again."

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

"So? How was he?" The Sandaime Hokage asked Jiraiya.

"You lied to me, old man! You said he was on the level of Itachi. That is wrong! He will easily surpass Itachi in a couple years! I couldn't get very much research done at all!" Both men scowled a bit at this.

"What level would you put him at?" Sarutobi asked his former student.

"In terms of raw skill, hes jounin easily. Of course, his main flaw is that he lacks experience working with other nin, and he probably could stand to gain more combat experience. I would start him at chunin, but don't expect him to stay there long."

The Hokage nodded at this. "That was about on the same lines that I was thinking. Take care, Jiraiya."

"Don't worry sensei, even if I don't come back to Konoha for a while, I will keep you abreast on any information I find on Orochimaru or that new nukenin group that I have heard rumors about." With that, Jiraiya left Konoha.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Two weeks had passed since Naruto stopped training with Jiraiya. He had trained heavily with the **Rasengan** and the **Hari Jizou**. He had gotten the **Rasengan** down to an art, but he still had some problems forming the **Hari Jizou** quickly enough to block most attacks.

Konoha was abuzz with news of an attempted theft of the Forbidden Scroll that occurred the night before. Apparently, an academy assistant teacher had tried to steal the scroll, but was intercepted by one of the chunin instructors. Although the chunin failed to stop the thief, he managed to slow him down enough for ANBU patrols to catch up and apprehend the thief. This came at a heavy price, as the chunin instructor was heavily injured, and would need many months of physical therapy before he could resume his teaching position. This left that academy class without a teacher.

_Wouldn't want to be the idiot stuck having to teach some brats.'_ Mused Naruto. His musing, however, was stopped when an ANBU appeared before the young man.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the Hokage requests your presence." With that, the ANBU was gone. Naruto shrugged at this; the Hokage had never requested a meeting with him before, so he figured it must be important. Within ten minutes, Naruto was standing in front of the Hokage.

"Naruto-kun, I am glad you could make it. I have decided that it is finally time for you to become an active ninja of Konoha." Naruto couldn't help but stand a little straighter at this. He was finally a ninja! "So it is with great pleasure that I accept you into our ranks, Uzumaki Naruto, Chunin of Konoha!" He proceeded to hand Naruto a hitai-ate and a chunin vest. _Chunin? I thought I would start off a genin like everybody else!' _The wise Hokage seemed to read his thoughts. "Please. Did you really think the Chunin Exam was the only way to get promoted? Only two or three genin from all the allied countries promote every six months in those things. At that rate, Konoha would have run out of chunin a long time ago. Surely you realized that?" _'Kuso... I never thought of that...' _"Jiraiya told me that you were easily jounin level in skill, but I am not ready to put that much pressure on you just yet. People will question your abilities, so if anybody asks, just say that you got most of your skill from being Jiraiya's apprentice. Its not a total lie after all..."

After a short pause, the Sandaime Hokage continued. "I have already found the perfect mission for you." _'I wonder what his reaction will be?' _He wondered, "As I am sure you have heard, there was an incident last night. Because of this, we lack a teacher for one of our academy classes. The class is in its final year, but you can still consider this a long termed B-Ranked mission." '_Not to mention its finally time you make some friends'_

Now Naruto was a smart person. Most would consider him a genius. That being said, it is scientifically proven that when someone doesn't want to accept something, he will try and find other possible answers to whatever plagues said person. So it was no surprise that Naruto tried to think of other meanings to what the Hokage was hinting at.

"So... you want me to be a janitor?" Was the best guess he could come up with. Sadly for him, it wasn't the right answer.

"Upon completion of this mission, I will allow you to take an exam of some sort to see if you qualify for jounin. Until than, have fun with your class chunin instructor Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Crap..."

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Shiki Fuujin**Dead Demon Consuming Seal

**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu: **Flame Type:Mythical Fire Flower Technique

**Katon: Goukakyuu** ** no Jutsu: **Flame Type: Powerful Fireball Technique

**Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu: **Flame Type: Dragon Fire Technique

**Doton: Shinju Zanshuu no Jutsu: **Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Skill

**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu: **Water Clone Technique

**Futon**: **Daitoppa no Jutsu: **Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

**Shunshin no Jutsu: **Body Flicker Technique

**Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: **Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu: **Summoning Technique

**Rasengan: **Spiral Blast

**Hari Jizou: **Underworld Guardian Spikes

A/N: HAH! When was the last time Naruto became a Chunin Instructor in a story? Hurray for me.

Sadly, writing this chapter was not a lot of fun, as I had to spend way to much time writing about his training, which didn't leave much room for many plot developments. Fear not! The story will (I hope) pick up from here on out!

More on the pairings. Although I am still not 100 committed to the NaruHarem idea, I don't think it would be to unrealistic. If I do take this route, I will probably only use three or possibly four girls. Naruto has spent his entire life all alone and hated, and although he doesn't yet realize it, the one thing he wants even more than his dreams of becoming Hokage is to be acknowledged and loved. Add to that the fact that hes super strong, super kind, and super good looking, and its not that far fetched an idea to think of multiple girls falling for him. Getting them to be willing to share might be a bit difficult, but I don't think it would be to outlandish an idea. If I do take this route, than I am making Ino one of the girls, because she is my favorite kunoichi and I hold all the power here. The rest of the choices are up for suggestion (not a vote, per se, but give me reasons for who you want, and I will listen.

I will warn you now, there will be a LOT of Sasuke bashing. I know a lot of people like him, but I hate him with a passion. On a related note, some people have suggested I bash Sakura. This one is a bit iffy for me. On one hand, I do agree Sakura is easily the most annoying person in Naruto Part 1, but shes actually not all that bad in Part 2. Therefore, I leave this one in your hands.


	3. Friends and Academics

A/N: Some of you have mentioned that the ages seem wrong, but if you look back at chapter 1, I mentioned that I would be changing the years for some events. It seems so much easier writing about 15 year olds as ninjas than as 12, but thats just my opinion. Rejoice, for your kind words have saved Sakura from the seventh hell of eternal damnation known as author bashing. She will still be both useless and slightly annoying for a while, but once she gets away from the mind altering Uchiha drug, she will change for the better.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Naruto scowled. He had tried everything he could think of to change the old man's mind, (pretty much by storming about yelling out a storm of words that could make a sailor hang his head in shame) but to no avail. To add insult to injury, the Hokage had chuckled! He chuckled!! No matter what he tried he still couldn't get a rise out of the man. Naruto swore he would have resorted to physical violence, if not for the fact that the Sandaime Hokage was both his superior officer, and the first person to care for his well being. To make it even worse, this would really cut into his training time. Sighing in defeat, he stormed out of the office, but not before giving the Hokage one final warning.

"Trust me on this ojiisan, creating a **Bunshin** will be the least of their worries by the time I am done with them."

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

After denial and anger, the next step on the road to acceptance tends to be resignation. Thus, Naruto found himself in the position of figuring out what he planned to do with his new class. He figured that the best solution would be to learn about the students. Since the previous instructor was still in the hospital, he decided that the next best solution would be to observe the brats. With that in mind, Naruto went to his assigned classroom twenty minutes before the students were due to show up, and carefully hid himself with genjutsu.

The first two people to arrive was a large boy, and a tired looking boy with pineapple hair. The former was munching a bag of chips, while talking between bites. _'He must be the Akimichi. What did the roster say his name was? Ah right, Chouji. Seems like a nice enough person, even if he doesn't look to bright.' _The other boy, who Naruto correctly guessed was Nara Shikamaru, was listening while occasionally adding a few words. What really caught Naruto's attention, however, was when Shikamaru looked in the area Naruto was hiding for a minute, before shrugging and laying his head down in an attempt to score a few minutes of rest. _'Although he didn't see through the genjutsu, merely detecting it was no small feat. That Nara seems to be smarter than his lazy exterior would lead one to believe. I will definitely keep an eye on him.'_

The next student to arrive was a raven haired boy. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the boys look of disdain, as he arrogantly carried himself to a seat in the back, allowing Naruto to see the symbol on his back. _'The Uchiha Crest. So that must be Uchiha Sasuke, the strongest one in the class. To bad he has a stick shoved so far up his ass..._

The next one to enter was a boy with a large jacket and dark sunglasses. He carried himself with a low profile. He made his way to a seat by himself. He sat in silence for a couple minutes, before he seemed to sit up a bit straighter, while looking around a bit, before finally settling back down, but looking much more alert. Using chakra to enhance his hearing, Naruto made out a faint buzzing sound. _'Must be the Aburame. It would make sense that his bugs could detect the chakra in the genjutsu.'_

A few minutes later, the first noteworthy kunoichi-in-training arrived. Her pupiless white eyes clearly marked her as a Hyuuga. Naruto was a bit surprised that she didn't carry herself with the arrogance of other Hyuuga, (or Sasuke) and instead seemed almost nervous. _'I was told that the heiress of the clan would be in my class, but she certainly doesn't look the part. Even still, she should be fairly talented.'_

The next two kunoichis to arrive were two that Naruto could have done without. It wasn't so much that they were bad looking, quite the contrary in fact, but while they were fair on the eyes, they were murder on the ears. The two seemed to be arguing about something, and they were quite loud about it. _'Other than me, the only other blonds I can think of come from the Yamanaka clan. The other one... I would guess that she is Haruno Sakura, since she is the only one I haven't accounted for yet.' _His train of thoughts was broken up when both girls charged at the seat next to the Uchiha, screaming about their precious "Sasuke-kun." '_Please, please tell me they realize that there is an empty seat on both sides of Sasuke.'_ Sadly, as the two started fighting over the seat, Naruto knew that his pleas were unanswered. '_Just great, fan girls. Shoot me now.'_

The last notable student to arrive was obviously an Inuzuka. _'Hard to not notice the ninken he has.'_ (A/N: Although Akamaru is a huge dog when Kiba is 15, I am going with the pre-timeskip dog, since its hard to imagine a dog that big being suitable for going indoors) Kiba was loudly proclaiming his greatness to the class, who promptly ignored him. Growling a bit, Kiba, with Akamaru in his jacket, sat down while somehow managing to glare at everybody. _'Loud, arrogant, and slightly feral. Oh joy.'_

Naruto knew it was time for class to start, but he decided it would be better to sit and watch a bit longer. It didn't take long long before some of the shorter tempered students started complaining.

"Geez, where could our new sensei be? What kind of an idiot teacher would be this late on the first day? Loudly complained Sakura. (Again causing Hatake Kakashi to sneeze, this time on one of his new students, causing said student to fall ill and leading to his teams failure in the bell test.)

"Hnn.. I don't have time to waste sitting around here. I need to get stronger... to kill him." Of course this one was Sasuke, in one of his broody emo modes.

"Hey Shikamaru, where do you think our instructor could be?" Asked Chouji, causing the young Nara to abandon his attempt at sleep.

"Isn't it obvious? He's already here." Sadly, he said this loud enough for everyone to hear. Many people in the crowd muttered at this declaration.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Asked a bewildered Chouji.

"Tch, hes clearly hiding behind a troublesome genjutsu."

"Hn. If he were hiding behind a genjutsu, I surely would have sensed it, dobe." Proclaimed the Uchiha.

"Yeah! Your just jealous your not as good as Sasuke-kun, Shikamaru no baka!" Exclaimed Ino. Shikamaru just shrugged, muttered something about 'troublesome women,' and attempted to go back into dreamland.

"Actually, I think he may be right." Kiba muttered. At seeing some questioning glances, he elaborated, "I smell a presence that I haven't smelled before. At first I just ignored it, but I can clearly smell someone else in this room." Seeing the Hyuuga girl about to activate her doujutsu, Naruto decided that fun time was finally over. He canceled the genjutsu, catching the attention of the entire class.

"Yo." Not exactly the greatest greeting ever, but Naruto felt it sufficient. Sadly, based on the wide-eyed expressions of disbelief most of his students had, Naruto figured he at least owed them a little more. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I get to have the honor of teaching you brats how to survive your first mission!" He added, with no small amount of sarcasm. _'Hopefully I can somehow survive my first mission...' _He added mentally. Most of the ninja-wannabes still had confused looks on their faces. _'Probably trying to get over the fact that I am the same age, if not younger, than them.' _He figured.

"Hmph, you don't look like much. Your probably weak, like all the rest." Sasuke said, although internally he was saying something different, _'What the hell? How could he be a chunin already? Hes so much like him...' _

Seeing some of the other students mutter in agreement, Naruto scowled. _Hmm.. I want to make the best of this experience as I can, so intimidation is out of the question. I guess that means the only other option available to earn their respect is to beat the shit out of them.' _Naruto decided that he liked this idea...a lot. And he even had a volunteer!

"Is that so, Sasuke_-kun?_" he said, mimicking his fan girls. "You think you are stronger than me? If so, than prove it." He finished, while gesturing to the empty area of the classroom meant for sparring. Sasuke followed Naruto, with his arrogant smirk plastered on his face. "There are no rules for this spar." Once they both entered the marked area, Naruto gave Sasuke the signal to begin.

Almost immediately Sasuke charged Naruto, launching a pair of kunai as he went. Naruto easily dodged the kunai, before having to duck to avoid Sasuke's roundhouse kick. Sasuke launched a quick jab at Naruto's face, but that too was easily avoided as Naruto leapt away.

"To slow, Sasuke-chan!" Naruto taunted, further enraging the Uchiha. With a furious cry, Sasuke again charged, this time brandishing a kunai. Like before, Naruto easily dodged the wild swipe, before kicking Sasuke in the stomach, launching him a few feet away.

"Why are you so angry, anyways?" Naruto asked, with genuine interest. He knew the Uchiha was arrogant, but Sasuke was practically foaming at the mouth in an attempt to gut Naruto with his kunai.

"I need to be stronger..." Sasuke yelled, while charging Naruto again, "...so I can get '_him'_." Naruto knew who Sasuke was referring to, of course, but Naruto held no sympathy for the so-called avenger. Naruto didn't even give him time to attack, quickly ducking down and launching a sweeping kick that sent the Uchiha tumbling to the ground.

"I didn't realize you swung that way." Naruto pondered...loudly, causing nearly the entire class to laugh at the Uchiha's expense. (The Uchiha Sasuke fan club was to busy reeling in shock over this possible revelation) "You are weak, letting your anger control you like that You will never be able to beat Itachi. This spar is over."

Sasuke, who was still on the ground, was shaking in barely-restrained fury. _'Why am I so weak? I don't get it? I am an avenger, damn it, I should be the one with the power, not this bastard! At this rate, my only chance will be to pray that Itachi chokes on some food and dies.'_

Unfortunately (for Sasuke), his prayers would be unheeded, as a past incident would explain..

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

_Uchiha Itachi was sitting by a river munching on a stick of pocky, pondering why his best friend Uchiha Shisui had called him here. He didn't have to wait long, as Shisui quickly showed up, holding what appeared to be a picnic basket._

"_Ah, Itachi. I called you here because your kaasan wanted me to convince you to eat something other than pocky." Itachi blinked, he certainly hadn't been expecting that. "All you ever eat is pocky! Its not healthy for you. Here, your mother cooked us this lunch, try it."_

_Although Itachi was both shocked and slightly scared, he saw a bit of reason in Shisui's words. With a slight shrug, Itachi grabbed a rice ball. He took a bite, but in an odd twist of fate, promptly started choking. Feeling the cold hands of Shinigami himself closing around his neck, Itachi started to panic. Thankfully, his status as a prodigy didn't let him down this day, as he quickly managed to form the hand seals to a Katon jutsu, incinerating the offending food in his throat. After such a blatant attempt at murder, Itachi was pissed._

"_If you wanted to kill me, you should have just attacked me, but no! You had to degrade my precious pocky. For that, you die!" Itachi yelled, while activating his sharingan._

_Five minutes later, Uchiha Itachi was standing over the mangled corpse of his best friend, mangekyou sharingan spinning wildly, while munching on another stick of pocky. After careful deliberation, Itachi concluded that he could not allow this affront on his precious pocky's honor to pass. Thus, plans for what would eventually become known as the 'Uchiha Massacre' were made._

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Seeing Naruto's turned back, Sasuke decided that a little payback is in order. Thus, he started quickly forming seals for his favorite jutsu. Finishing on the tiger seal, Sasuke launched a **Katon: Goukakyuu** ** no Jutsu** at him. The massive fireball proved to be accurate, slamming into Naruto's back. "Heh, weak." Sasuke said with a smirk. The class was stunned at the death of their new sensei.

"Geez, that wasn't nice. My poor Kage Bunshin didn't deserve that." Said a voice from behind Sasuke. Everyone turned to see Naruto standing there, completely unharmed. "If you wanted to make this into a jutsu fight, you should have just said so." He started forming hand seals that Sasuke quickly recognized, but was powerless to dodge from his position on the ground. Deciding that four years of ignoring his inner prankster was long enough, he made sure to use only the smallest amount of chakra before launching the **Katon: Housenka no Jutsu **at Sasuke. Instead of a handful of deadly fireballs, only one fireball was launched, and it looked to small to be considered dangerous. That is, however, until it hit Sasuke on the top of his head, lighting his hair on fire. "Eh, you might want to do something about that, Sasuke. I forgot I don't know any useful suiton jutsu's to put that out with." Naruto stated innocently.

Needless to say, Sasuke took off running in the direction of the bathroom. To make it even more comical, a certain pink haired kunoichi took off after him, proclaiming that she would save him because of her 'eternal love'. Many people were in tears from laughing so hard at the Uchiha's humiliation. Although it wasn't all bad for the poor avenger, as having his asshole attitude exposed to the world caused nearly thirty percent of his fan girls to give up on him, including a blonde haired Yamanaka. Sadly, however, the male branch of his fan club (led by Orochimaru) nearly tripled in size, thinking that they had a chance with him.

"Alright than, seeing that a single one of my clones easily humiliated the supposed strongest of you all, and I can easily create over a hundred clones, I really doubt that I am 'weak.' Now can we please get started?" Naruto muttered in annoyance. Seeing that everybody was finally paying attention to him now, (except the snoring Nara) Naruto's attitude did a prompt 180 degree turn, going from super annoyed to super sadistic. "Finally! Now as I was saying, while the mandatory final is still just a test on the **Bunshin**, that isn't my goal. You all look weak, and it is my job to change that. You won't be getting many lectures from me, but I have a lot of hands-on work in plan for you. Physical training, sparring, mock missions, and mental training are all on the agenda. Any questions?"

"Ano...Naruto-sensei, when you said mental training, what did you mean by that?" Asked the nervous looking Hyuuga girl.

"Ahh.. excellent question. A common misconception is that shinobi rely on jutsu and weapons to win battles, but the one tool even more useful than them is ones mind. Therefore, training ones mind is just as important as training your body. The easiest way for me do to this will be to thrust you into leadership roles during simulated missions, ask for answers on hypothetical situations that may arise on a mission, and I even plan to have you all play shougi." At that final statement, Shikamaru rose his head, and actually looked slightly interested. _'This new sensei is troublesome, but this might not be so bad.'_ He pondered.

The rest of the day was spent with introductions and the like, and the end of the day quickly arrived.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

The original Ino-Shika-Cho were waiting outside the academy for their kids. While they normally wouldn't do something so trivial, they were interested in meeting the new chunin instructor. They soon saw the approaching figures of their students. The three students seemed slightly surprised to see them there, but they didn't really care enough to mention it.

"So... how was school today?" Asked Inoichi, all the while mentally scolding himself. _'Damn that was lame! Great going.' _He gathered, from the small glare that his daughter sent him, that she thought the same.

"It was really good! Sasuke got his ass handed to him by our new instructor!" Said Chouji with a small laugh. Everyone turned to Ino, expecting her to murder the poor Akimichi for daring to degrade Sasuke, but to their surprise, she didn't comment. _'Yes! She's finally over her Sasuke obsession!' _ Inoichi mentally yelled, while a chibi Inoichi did a small dance in his head.

"Really? Tell us about your new instructor." Asked Nara Shikaku. The three academy students could plainly see the looks of interest on the the three jounin's faces.

"It's really strange," began Ino, "He looks to be our age, but I have never seen him before. His name is Uzumaki Naruto." None of the three failed to notice the eyes of the three jounin widen in shock.

"Uzumaki Naruto? Are you sure?" This one came from Akimichi Chouza, who was still in a bit of shock.

"Thats what he claimed his name was, why?" Asked the younger Nara. This seemed to rouse the three men from their stupor.

"Err.. no reason. Just a bit surprised, thats all." The Akimichi answered. Although they had never personally met the Uzumaki boy before, the three men were all close friends with the Yondaime, and thus were willing to give the jinchuuriki a chance.

"Hmm.. We were planning on all having dinner together, why don't we invite him along?" Said Inoichi. Seeing the raised eyebrows of the younger generation, he elaborated further, "Uzumaki has a bit of a...reputation if you will, but nobody really knows anything about him. Consider me a bit curious about it." The other two men nodded in agreement.

"Troublesome... but he should still be in the classroom." Shikamaru said with a shrug. The six easily found Naruto in his room, banging his head against the wall while muttering something about 'troublesome Uchiha' over and over, causing the two Nara to sweatdrop. After his head stopped ringing, Naruto finally realized that he was no longer alone, so he turned to the group in the door, and gave a brief laugh, while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. _'They don't look like angry parents come to give the demon-spawn a piece of their minds for corrupting their children...' _He thought briefly.

"Naruto-sensei," said Chouji, "our parents and us were wondering if you wanted to join us for dinner tonight, so we can get to know each other a bit better." This time it was Naruto's turn to be shocked. He was a bit wary that it might just be an excuse to poison him, but after not detecting any maliciousness in the eyes of the three adults, he mentally shrugged. _'Ojiisan did say I need to make friends, so I guess it can't hurt to take the gamble. Chouji seems like a nice guy, Shikamaru is an interesting enigma, and Ino doesn't seem to bad when shes not a fan girl...'_

With a smile, and a brief answer of "sure," Naruto joined the small group. Along the way, they made small talk.

"So how did you make chunin anyways? I never even knew you were a ninja till I found out you were their teacher." Asked Shikaku.

Naruto shrugged slightly, "I mostly trained myself. Jiraiya of the Sennin took me as an apprentice for a while. I guess thats why the Hokage had me skip the normal chain of advancement." _'Not completely a lie.'_ Naruto mused. He noticed six sets of eyes staring at him incredulously. "What?"

"Not many people can boast at being trained by one of the legendary three. How did you get Jiraiya-sama to be your sensei anyways?" Asked Chouza.

Naruto had come up with an answer to this question ahead of time. "Jiraiya sometimes enjoys spying on women in the bathhouses in search of inspiration for his books. I just happened to discover him one day, where I promptly blackmailed him into teaching me something in exchange for not blowing his cover. I guess it just went on from there." Naruto finished with a shrug. The five males laughed a bit at the story, but Ino's reaction was a bit different. Her face was bright red, and she was shaking slightly, in both anger and embarrassment. "You alright Ino? You seem a bit...red." Naruto finished lamely.

"Jiraiya... hes not a creepy old guy with white hair and an ugly outfit, is he?" She asked. Seeing Naruto's nod, she blew up. "THAT BASTARD! HE WAS SPYING ON ME A COUPLE WEEKS AGO! I thought we beat him badly enough, but now I regret letting him live..." Naruto remembered that incident quite well, and found himself twice as glad that he had the wisdom to have escaped from what would have been a certain doom in time. Ino mentally swore painful revenge, causing a feeling of dread to wash over the aforementioned Jiraiya, even though he was currently somewheres in Wind Country.

The others had varied reactions. Chouji was laughing quite loudly, Chouza and Shikaku were both snickering a bit, and even Shikamaru had a smirk on his face. Inoichi however, was torn between laughing his ass off at Ino's humiliation, and murdering a certain Frog Sennin for doing that to his precious daughter. Needless to say, the two conflicting emotions led to one scary sight for people passing by.

"So how did you come to be our chunin instructor anyways?" Chouji asked, causing Naruto to scowl.

"The old man has a twisted sense of humor. Nobody else wanted the job, so he figured that it would just be easier to make me a ninja knowing that I couldn't very well refuse my first assignment."

"Thats odd, I thought somebody could only become a ninja at a younger age with a parents consent. I am a bit surprised your family let you graduate early." This statement from Ino instantly created a thick tension in the air. Naruto stopped, and stared at the ground for a few seconds, while the adults watched, slightly tense. Finally, Naruto shrugged, and gave a sad smile before answering.

"I wouldn't know anything about that, since I never had a family." He said in a quiet tone, causing the three students to widen their eyes in shock.

"I'm sorry Naruto-sensei, I never knew..." Ino began, but Naruto cut her off with a brief wave of the hand.

"Theres no need to apologize. You didn't know. Oh, and drop the '-_sensei'_ when not in class. It makes me feel old."

After that awkward moment passed, the day went much better for Naruto. The villagers still gave him constant glares, which didn't go unnoticed by the others, but Naruto just ignored it, instead concentrating on the conversation, which had turned to lighter things. The meal proved to be a rather simple affair, (as simple as possible with Akimichis around) but Naruto found it to be rather enjoyable. The adults all left after dinner, so Naruto ended up playing a game of shougi against Shikamaru. This proved to be a rather intense game, as Naruto managed to fend off many of Shikamaru's plans, forcing the Nara genius to go into his 'thinking pose' a couple times. During the game the four continued to talk. Chouji was especially interested when he found out that one of Naruto's favorite non-ninja related hobbies was to cook. Eventually Shikamaru managed to win the game, confirming Naruto's belief that the Nara was holding back school, since he was clearly no dead last. Although he didn't show it, Shikamaru was quite happy that he met somebody seemingly as skilled as him in shougi.

Eventually Naruto decided to leave, promising the other three that he would hang out with them again. Naruto could barely conceal the wide grin that was threatening to form on his face, as he returned to his apartment. _'Is this what its like having friends? Maybe ojiisan isn't such a sadist after all... Still, I have to get him back for saddling me with the Uchiha.'_

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

The entire year passed surprisingly quick for Naruto, and although he would never admit it to anybody, (especially the Hokage) he did find himself enjoying the year a lot. Although he became the most hated target of the Uchiha Sasuke fan club, he did make a few friends that he would willingly die for. Each of his friends, he noted, came from noted ninja clans, Naruto had an inkling as to who was his ally in this town. (That, and the fact that a lot of angry parents withdrew their kids from the class after the first day because of Naruto)

Although it wasn't friendship in the normal sense, Naruto did become somewhat close with Aburame Shino. Naruto saw that the stoic boy was always alone, and took a guess as to why that was. _'Not many people want to be associated with somebody with icky bugs living in him. Hes a bit of an outcast, like I am.' _After seeing that, Naruto spent time hanging out with the Aburame. Although few words were ever spoken, Naruto could tell that the silent boy was grateful for it.

Another kindred spirit Naruto found was in Inuzuka Kiba. Although Naruto had to tone it down due to his lack of free time, he still maintained his inner prankster. Thus, when he found out that Kiba enjoyed pranks also, he couldn't help but feel attached. The two spent large periods of time coming up with more intricate traps (especially for use on the Uchiha or one of his fan club), and Naruto even provided the boy with some sage advice on how to utilize his pranks to help his ninja career.

Hyuuga Hinata was another person that Naruto became attached to. The first thing that he found out about her was that she was nice, with 'nice' being the understatement of the year. Although kindness was a good trait for a person to have, as a shinobi, having to much kindness can create difficulties. Thankfully, Naruto was able to help her out with that problem.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

"_Hinata-chan," started the Kage Bunshin that Naruto had assigned to watch over the spar between the Hyuuga and Ino, "why do you hold back in your spars so much?"_

_Hinata looked at the ground a bit, before finally speaking, "Gomen Naruto-sensei, I just don't like seeing people hurt." She watched as Naruto shook his head a bit before answering back._

"_Well than your doing a bad job of it." He said, causing the Hyuuga heiress to look up in shock. "Spars are meant to improve a person's skills. By holding back, you are not only making yourself weaker, but you are making the people you are sparring with weaker also. What would happen if Ino-chan, believing that she was stronger than she really was because she defeated the Hyuuga heir so easily, overestimates her ability in a fight, and ends up getting hurt, or worse?" Hinata was shocked. She had never thought of it before, but it seemed...right. Seeing his words take effect, Naruto left the girl to think._

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

After that, Hinata stopped holding back as much in fights. Once that happened she started to become more confident in herself. This led to her beating her younger sister Hanabi in a duel, causing her father to start praising her. All in all, she became much better because of it.

Naruto's closest friends, however, were the three that he met on the first day. Naruto found that Chouji was a fun person to be around, as he could be both loud and animated, laughing at one of Naruto's jokes, or quiet and serious, providing sage advice that even Naruto sometimes found useful. Add to that the fact that both loved good food. Chouji was especially pleased to find out that Naruto's cooking was quite excellent. So much, in fact, that Chouji one time convinced his father to hire Naruto to cook for an Akimichi clan party. Twenty-nine Akimichis attended that meal. _'I have never seen food go that quickly.' _Thought Naruto with a smirk, _'I can't believe I actually needed to use **Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu **in order to get enough manpower to cook a simple meal. Ah well, they enjoyed it, so it was worth it'_

Yamanaka Ino was another that Naruto grew close to. When he found out that her family owned a flower shop, Naruto decided that flowers would make his lonely apartment look a bit better. So with this thought in mind, he decided to ask her to teach him how to garden. She agreed, on the condition that Naruto train her sometimes after class, admitting rather shamefully, that she had never really bothered to train in the previous two years, deeming the Uchiha as more important. Thus, Ino sometimes found herself at Naruto's favorite training grounds, doing what Naruto considered 'training.' This usually involved Naruto beating the crap out of Ino, and than taunting and goading her to make her continue past her limits. This would go on till she was to exhausted to continue, at which point she would than proceed to curse at and threaten Naruto with all sorts of horrible pain. This only made Naruto laugh, which in turn made Ino even more angry. _'Now I can see why ojiisan likes getting me mad.'_ Naruto mused happily.

Although Naruto found himself very close to the previous two, he would consider Shikamaru to be his best friend. The two would often be seen playing shougi together, (which they proved to be about equal at) or just watching the clouds go by. Naruto found the lazy genius to be someone who he could constantly match wits with, but with no maliciousness involved. The two were an odd pair, with Shikamaru's calm attitude a sharp contrast to the maelstrom that was both Naruto's namesake and attitude. Not to mention Naruto constantly found himself amused at Shikamaru's complaints about 'troublesome' things.

While Naruto was both friendly and sociable outside of class, during class time he was considered to be the ultimate sadist. Instead of boring the class with lectures and tests, he decided it would be better to work them into the ground. He would start them off every morning with what he considered to be a light workout. This of course proved to be a bit harder for the rest, as it consisted of a hundred laps around the academy followed by an hour of other exercises. After that came the sparring, where Naruto would have Kage Bunshins watch every battle to help the students discover their weaknesses.

After that came the 'missions'. Naruto would constantly come up with different ninja scenarios and than assign the team a leader, who the rest would have to obey. Sometimes the students all worked together (the mission where Shino's team had to infiltrate a forest filled with traps and Naruto's Kage Bunshins to retrieve a scroll, for example) and sometimes they worked against each other. (including the mission where Hinata's team successfully defended the helpless Kage Bunshin they were escorting from Chouji's assassins) These missions served to both provide practical experience, and to emphasize the importance of teamwork, something even Sasuke started to grasp after a while. (This probably started in the mission where he abandoned his team to fly solo, and instead ended up getting captured by the traps that Kiba's team had set up, much to the dog-boys great delight)

While Naruto tried to be fair to all of his students, he couldn't help wanting to make Sasuke's life a living hell for as long as the Uchiha remained the anti-social emo avenger. Of course this meant that Naruto didn't give Sasuke any mercy for the entire year. _'That genjutsu incident was pretty mean though...' _ Thought Naruto with a snicker...

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

_The group had just finished warm up drills for the day, when Naruto gathered the group together. Although he didn't believe in lectures, sometimes they were needed. Thus, Naruto found himself explaining how to detect genjutsu. During the lecture, Naruto had subtly placed a double-layered genjutsu on Sasuke, with the top layer being a very weak and easily canceled illusion, while the bottom layer was much stronger. After doing that, Naruto finished up the lecture._

"_And speaking of genjutsus," he stated, "theres one on one of you guys, see if you can find it." After a few seconds of searching, Kiba wisely guessed that if Naruto had placed a genjutsu on somebody, that it would probably be on Sasuke. His assumption was proved right after he used 'Kai' to cancel the illusion on the Uchiha. The end result was, to say the least, humorous. There stood Sasuke, wearing nothing but his boxers. Pink boxers, to be exact, with the kanji for 'avenger' written all over them. Of course this was another genjutsu, but nobody knew. (or cared) Instead it elicited a reaction of embarrassment, (from Sasuke) a squeal of delight, (from Sakura, assuming pink was a sign of his eternal love for her) a lot of drooling, (from the fan club) and a whole lot of laughter. (from everybody else)_

_As the Uchiha started to run off in search of clothes, Naruto gave him mercy by canceling the illusion. "And that is what we call a double-layered genjutsu." He said, ending the lecture._

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

As much as he wanted to change the finals into something more interesting, the Hokage refused, so it ended up being the basic test, with a pitiful written test, some weapons accuracy, a basic taijutsu exam, and finally a required demonstration of the **Bunshin**. Everybody passed, of course, but Naruto had a feeling in his mind of who would actually become shinobi. None the less, this didn't stop him from deciding to give them his own unofficial test. Stating that he had one final lesson to explain to them, he led them out to one of the nearby training grounds, while discreetly forming four Kage Bunshins and having them run off to hide after using a **Henge**. When they finally reached their destination, Naruto turned to deliver whatever instructions he had planned, when a kunai embedded itself into the back of his neck, causing the chunin to fall to the ground, 'dead.'. Standing behind him were four Kumo nin, according to their hitai-ates.

"Well look here, the Hyuuga heir with only a bunch of brats protecting her." Said the first 'Kumo nin,' causing Hinata to stiffen, and the rest of the new genin to tense up in preparation for a battle.

"Hey boss." Said another of the four, "That one over there looks like an Uchiha. Want to snag the Sharingan also?"

The leader appeared to think about it for a second before finally answering. "Might as well, but remember: Our primary target is the Byakugan. We can kill the rest." With that, the battle began.

Two of the nins charged Hinata, intent on capturing her right off the bat. One of them was forced to abandon the attack after having to dodge kunai thrown from Ino. The other one closed the distance, and got into a taijutsu fight with the Hyuuga. The other two picked other targets: Shino and Sasuke. The former Kumo nin quickly found himself on the defensive, as he strove to avoid the waves of kikai bugs that the Aburame was unleashing. The latter found himself diverted from his attack on Sasuke by a **Tsuuga** from Kiba.

Although the 'Kumo' nins were intimidating, the genin found them to be surprisingly weak. The first two found themselves victims of Shikamaru's **Kage Mane no Jutsu**, allowing Chouji to nail them both with his **Baika no Jutsu. **The third one, seeing what he perceived to be an opening, charged Shino, only to find himself the victim of his **Kikai Bunshin no Jutsu**. The final Kumo nin found himself in a vulnerable position after dodging another of Kiba's **Tsuuga** attacks, thus ending up being engulfed by a **Goukakyuu **attack from Sasuke. The thing that struck the Leaf genin as most odd, though, was instead of a mix of flattened, charred, and bug infested corpses, nothing remained. No screaming was heard, just the tell-tale 'poof' noise of a Kage Bunshin.

"Good job all!" Exclaimed Naruto, after hopping out of a tree that he was sitting in. The genin looked back at where Naruto had supposedly died, only to see a broken tree limb, hinting that he had used a **Kawarimi **to escape the attack.

"Wait, you mean to tell us that this was all some kind of a test?" Asked Kiba incredulously. Seeing Naruto nod while snickering, the genin couldn't help but get slightly pissed.

Once Naruto started feeling the surprising amount of killing intent from his former students, Naruto figured it would be wise to explain his action. "The hardest battle for most ninja is generally the first battle. Therefore, I decided that if I put you into a supposed life or death situation before you actually find yourself in one, you will be less likely to freeze up when you do find yourself in a dangerous fight." Naruto finished, while nodding his head at his own wisdom. He was about to leave, when he remembered one final thing. "Oh right, the Hokage wanted me to tell you that the teams won't be selected for a week. Not sure of the reasoning though. So just keep training, and meet back at the academy in seven days. Ja Ne!" And with that, Naruto **Shunshin'd **away, leaving a bunch of disgruntled genin. Naruto eventually found himself in the Hokage's office, in a brief meeting with the Sandaime.

"Well Naruto-kun, I must say that I was impressed by your students performances today." The old man started, causing Naruto to grin at the praise being handed out. "Therefore, I think it is time for you to take your jounin test." This part caused Naruto to stand up straighter, if that was at all possible. He knew this was coming, but it still made him giddy with excitement. "The normal jounin test wouldn't work very well with you, I think, since your skills are easily good enough. What you lack, is combat experience. Therefore, your jounin test will be a mission, that upon successful completion will give you your new rank." The Hokage pulled out a mission scroll, with the letter 'A' written on it.

"Uzumaki Naruto, your mission is to hunt down and assassinate the A-rank nukenin Rokusho Aoi."

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu:** Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

**Tsuuga: **Piercing Fang

**Kage Mane no Jutsu: **Shadow Imitation Technique

**Baika no jutsu: **Multi-size Technique

**Kikai Bunshin no Jutsu: **Bug Clone Technique

A/N: Another chapter done! Sorry that this one took so long.

It was always my opinion that the ninja academy was a great waste of time in canon. Knowing how much sake the Nidaime Hokage drank on April 23 is nice and all, but utterly useless in a real fight, and thats what ninjas do. Its painfully apparent when Sakura finished with some of the highest grades, while Shikamaru had the worst. (outside of Naruto) Practical training seems so much more useful in my mind.

Some people have wondered a bit at Naruto's skill level. Even though he is mostly self-taught, his taijutsu and kenjutsu are both jounin level. His ninjutsu is probably high chunin right now, (he won't learn to many more jutsu either,) and his genjutsu is low chunin, although his genjutsu defense is much better. He is also quite skilled with strategy, tracking, stealth, and other ninja-essentials.

Somebody made a good point about Tenten having absolutely no information given out about her, basically making her an OC with a name (somewhat) and a fighting style. (which meshes well with my Naruto) Therefore, I will probably include her into my small harem. Still one or two more slots available!


	4. Green Beasts and Nukenin

Naruto sighed as he finally made his way back to his apartment. Since he wasn't in the mood for cooking dinner, he just set a cup of instant ramen in the microwave, and settled in to read his mission scroll during that critical three minute wait.

"Lets see..." He said out loud as he opened the scroll, "Rokusho Aoi, formerly of Konoha, now a jounin of Amegakure. Blah blah blah..." He quickly skimmed through some trivial details, before getting to the useful stuff. "Ah, this part is interesting. Says that he carries the Nidaime's stolen Raijin sword. Last seen in a village near the borders between Fire and Grass. May or may not have a genin team with him." _'Well that was a useful bit of information.'_ Naruto thought with a bit of sarcasm. He continued reading, "Mission duration expected to be four days. Leave tomorrow at dawn, with Genin Team nine who will serve as backup if needed while they complete their C-ranked delivery mission to Grass." Naruto finished, before realizing what that last part said. "A genin team? Damn it. Hopefully they aren't freaky." Outside his apartment he heard a sneeze, followed by the sound of someone shouting, "Bless you, Gai-sensei, with the flames of youth!!" Naruto shuddered. He had a very bad feeling about this...

The next day, Naruto found himself waiting at the west gate for his temporary team. He didn't have to wait long, as he quickly saw them approaching. Sadly, he heard them even before that.

"Yosh! Our youthful C-ranked mission is to bring a youthful scroll to the youthful folks in the land of Grass! To add to our youthfulness, the wise Hokage-sama has even assigned us a chunin who is in the process of expanding his springtime of youth by completing a mission to become a youthful jounin!"

If Naruto wasn't scared shitless from just listening to who he guessed was the jounin, he was trembling in fright once he finally saw team nine. The first person he saw was a kunoichi, who looked at least somewhat normal, in his mind. She was wearing a pink Chinese styled shirt, with her hair in two buns. She was currently trying to ignore her comrades by playing around with a kunai.

The next one he saw made Naruto grimace a bit. He was clearly a Hyuuga, based on his eyes. That wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that he carried himself like every other Hyuuga. _'Except Hinata.' _He mentally added. He held himself with an air of superiority and had a scowl etched onto his face. _'Although,' _Naruto pondered, in the Hyuuga's defense, _'that may have something to do with the other two...'_

It was the final two that would leave Naruto with nightmares for many years. They both had identical bowl cut hair, massive eyebrows, and hideous looking grand spandex. Add to that the fact that both seemed rather...lively as they were yelling to each other about 'the flames of youth,' and it was a fearsome sight indeed.

The jounin was the first to notice the blonde chunin. "Ahh! You must be the youthful Uzumaki Naruto?" Seeing Naruto nod, he continued on. "Yosh! I can see the flames of youth burn bright in you! Allow me to introduce myself, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Maito Gai! With me is Ama Tenten, (who gave a small smile and a nod) Hyuuga Neji, (who was to busy appraising Naruto's strength) and the ever cute Rock Lee!" (who gave his nice guy pose)

Naruto managed to hide his revulsion enough to smile warmly and give a simple greeting. "Nice to meet you all." _'Not quite a total lie... ok maybe it was.'_

With that, the small group set off towards its destination. Amazingly, the group was silent for most of the day. They made good progress, which hinted to Naruto that this team's training revolved more around physical exercise than jutsu training. It wasn't until they stopped for a midday break that things got interesting.

"Naruto-kun," started Lee in his annoyingly polite tone, "forgive me for asking, but how did you become so skilled that you are taking a jounin exam when you are younger than us?" The others were interested as well, while Neji even managed to discreetly activate his Byakugan in order to further appraise the chunin. What he saw shocked him. _'His chakra coils...they are even thicker than the Hokages. Who are you, Uzumaki Naruto?' _As much as Neji didn't care to admit it, he knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against the blonde in a fight.

"Eh, it was nothing much. Just a lot of hard work." Naruto said, with a slight shrug. Sadly, of the fifty-million answers he could have come up with, this one was by far the worst one to use in the face of Konoha's Green Beasts.

"YOSH! YOUR FLAMES OF YOTUH BURN BRIGHTLY NARUTO-KUN! I WILL RUN FIVE HUNDRED LAPS AROUND KONOHA TO MAKE MY FLAMES BURN AS BRIGHTLY AS YOURS!"

"THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA LEE! IF THAT SHOULD FAIL TO RAISE YOUR FLAMESOF YOUTH, THAN I SHALL DEFEAT MY ETERNAL RIVAL FIFTY MORE TIMES!"

"IF YOU SHOULD LOSE TO YOUR ETERNAL RIVAL THAN I SHALL DEFEAT TWENTY VILLIANS IN SINGLE COMBAT!"

"IF YOU SHOULD RUN OUT OF VILLIANS TO FIGHT THAN I SHALL KICK A LOG FIVE THOUSAND TIMES WHILE STANDING ON MY HANDS!"

"A MOST SPLENDID IDEA GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

If it was at all possible, the situation got even worse in Naruto's opinion, as the two started to hug with tears streaming down both of their faces! It was when the sun set and waves appeared out of nowheres that Naruto started to firmly believe that he was trapped in a horrible genjutsu. With that thought in mind, Naruto gathered what he thought was a sufficient amount of chakra, and released it with a shout of "Kai!" Sadly, the hugging, the tears, the sunset, and the waves all remained. Naruto tried again, this time gathering more chakra than it would take to summon Gamabunta. Still nothing happened.

With a low growl, Naruto started to focus chakra again. In his fury, (not to mention his desire to rip out his eyeballs and use them to block his ears) he managed to gather all of his chakra. Not only that, but he subconsciously opened all eight of the celestial gates, flooding his body with an insane amount of energy. If this wasn't enough, inside of him the Kyuubi was busy pumping all nine tails of its chakra into the boy, because it found the scene to be the scariest thing in its ten-thousand year old demon life. Needless to say, the amount of chakra generated was enough to cause poor Neji, who still had his Byakugan on, to go temporarily blind. In his blind state, he managed to take two steps before hitting a tree and knocking himself out, all the while thanking Naruto profusely in his head. It was than that Naruto unleashed his chakra, in one final attempt to save himself.

Needless to say, the chakra wave that Naruto unleashed was quite large. It was so large, in fact, that it managed to cancel out every genjutsu in the elemental countries, causing mass panic everywhere. It even led to the unfortunate deaths of twenty-three civilians, who had the grim luck to have been in the same casino as the wayward Slug Sannin when her genjutsu fell, causing her to go into a berserk rage. And yet, as Naruto started to pass out from a combination of severe chakra exhaustion, massive muscle damage, severe chakra burns from the Kyuubi, and most importantly the mental scarring from the genjutsu, he noticed one painful fact. _'That genjutsu is still effecting me...'_

A mere two hours later, Naruto awoke, feeling fully healed and refreshed. Of course that lasted as long as it took him to realize that the two were STILL hugging. He looked around a bit, and noticed Neji was still out cold, and Tenten was giving him a glare that could peel rust off a kunai.

"What?" He asked, in genuine confusion. This only seemed to piss her off more.

"Don't you 'what' me! Your the reason those bastards are still hugging!" Seeing Naruto blink in confusion, Tenten decided to elaborate in the easiest way possible: screaming her head off. "IF YOU DIDN'T GOAD THOSE BASTARDS INTO GETTING ALL SAPPY THAN I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO WATCH THE SUNSET AND THE WAVES FOR TWO GOD DAMNED HOURS. NOT TO MENTION YOU AND NEJI-TEME HAD TO PASS OUT LEAVING ME ALL ALONE!" Tenten was breathing hard after that, but it didn't stop her from starting to wave around the kunai that she was still holding in a very threatening manner. Naruto decided that it would be best for his well being to change the subject a bit.

"So... what do you specialize in?" He asked, as it was the first thing that came to his mind. Her attitude seemed to change completely, making her almost...cheery.

"I like weapons!" She said, with a slightly sadistic grin on her face that caused Naruto to shudder involuntarily. Still, while he could beat the crap out of the academy students to keep his taijutsu in form, he had never used his kenjutsu against others. He decided that he wouldn't let this chance pass up.

"Hmm... Wanna spar?" he asked, while quickly summoning his two wakizashis into his hands. Tenten's eyes widened a bit at the quick summoning, and she stammered a bit before finally composing herself.

"Only if you teach me how to modify seals to do THAT." She said, while pointing to his blades. Seeing him nod, she reached into her pack for a scroll where she had sealed all of her blades. She quickly decided upon a full length katana. The two stood appraising each other for a minute, waiting for some signal to start. That signal came in the form of a loud yell of "Gai-sensei!" which signaled for the match to start. Naruto started it off by charging in, and swinging the sword in his left hand at the girls' midsection, which she easily blocked. He followed this up with a swipe from his other blade, forcing Tenten to leap away. She quickly charged back in, using her superior reach to counter his quick strikes. She launched a downward slash on Naruto, forcing the chunin to have to use both his blades to stop the powerful strike. He leaned forward a bit before removing one of his swords from the deadlock and taking a quick swipe at her, but she managed to angle her katana in a way as to block that strike without breaking her deadlock. The two disengaged again. As they both circled each other looking for an opening, Naruto decided to start up a conversation.

"There aren't many weapon specialists in Konoha, so why did you become one?" He asked, while parrying a blow and launching a quick counter attack. Tenten seemed to get a bit depressed over the question.

"My parents used to own a weapon shop in Konoha till the Kyuubi killed them both when I was only one. I guess its just a way of remembering them, even if it is just a little bit." This statement caused Naruto to wince slightly, privately wishing a stomach ache on himself to mess up the fox a bit. Naruto nearly let his concentration slip, but managed to refocus in time to dodge the strike aimed for his legs.

"The life of an orphan is a pain I know all to well... Bastard fox screwed us all over, didn't he?" He finally answered. Tenten grimaced a bit at Naruto's admission of being an orphan also, but didn't say anything. The rest of the fight went on in an awkward silence.

An hour later the two finally called it quits. Tenten was dead tired, but Naruto was only slightly winded. Neji had woken up during the spar, and even the green beasts had finally stopped hugging, and all had been watching the spectacle, and were slightly impressed. (even though Neji didn't show it) While neither side scored a solid hit, Naruto knew he would have won easily if he had removed his weights. _'Still,'_ He mused, _'That was the most fun I have had with a weapon yet. She's not bad for a genin. Gonna have to do this again.'_ Tenten's thoughts ran along the same line. _'Gai-sensei doesn't use weapons, so this is about the most practice I have had in a while. I will have to ask Naruto to spar again sometime.'_

"Yosh! That was a most youthful display of your youthfulness with weapons! Now let us continue on to our youthful destination! We must near the borders before nightfall, so young Naruto will not have his flames dampened by unyouthful fatigue!" With that, the group set out again. Considering the three hour delay and the mental scarring that went with it, the group made good time, and easily reached an acceptable destination by night. That night, Naruto regaled them with tales of his days as an academy student. (basically, he told them about the Uchiha's humiliation) This caused a variety of reactions. Tenten giggled a bit, Neji couldn't help but smirk at hearing of the Uchiha's misfortune, proving in his mind that the Hyuugas were still superior, and Lee went off about "hard work beating a genius," which of course caused Gai to go off on one of his passionate speeches, which inevitably led to the two hugging, and the sunset genjutsu occurred, even in the dark of night! The other three quickly left for their tents, and while Tenten and Neji were somewhat trained to deal with the two, Naruto knew his dreams would be plagued by horrible images of fuzzy eyebrows, shiny teeth, and lots of hugging.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

The group of five set off again the next day. While Naruto was planning on splitting off near the border from the group and tracking down the nukenin on his own, before catching up, even the best laid plans don't always survive contact with the enemy. It was Neji, with his advanced Hyuuga training, who first noticed something was off. Activating his Byakugan confirmed his belief.

"We are in a genjutsu." Was all he stated. Instantly, the team became very alert. Naruto, Tenten, and Gai all easily dispelled the illusion, with Gai having to do the same for Lee. Although their surroundings didn't change much, it did change enough to reveal the attackers. Naruto took a quick head count, seeing eleven attackers, most of them wearing different scratched out hitai-ates, but the apparent leader had an Amegakure hitai-ate. Naruto had to grin a bit, seeing that the leader was wielding the Raijin, hinting that he would not need to find his target, as his target had just found him. The other ten looked a mix of genin with a couple chunin in the group, which Naruto figured would be simple enough for Gai's team to handle. A quick nod from Gai in his direction told Naruto that he was thinking the same thing.

"Heh, look here. A bunch of little Leaf nins. Can't let you interfere in my little recruitment drive. So sorry." Said Aoi, with mock sympathy in his voice. With that, the group attacked the outnumbered nin from Konoha.

Naruto quickly made his way to his target, but one of the enemy tried to interfere, wielding a kunai. Naruto promptly summoned one sword, using it to block the kunai, and with the other hand quickly formed a **Rasengan**, which he promptly buried into the enemies chest instantly shredding his insides. After his first 'fight' against an enemy ninja, Naruto re-sealed his sword, and started to go after his target again, who was currently launching a large wave of needles at Neji, who managed to block them all with a **Hakkeshou Kaiten**. _'I won't let him get another attack on them!' _Thought Naruto, as he started to quickly form hand seals, launching a large **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu** at him. The Ame nin was forced to abort his attack in order to avoid the fireball.

"So, one of the brats wants to play, eh?" Said Aoi, as he he unleashed his Raijin._'Damn it!'_ Mentally scowled Naruto. _'I can't very well use weapons unless I want to get killed by the electricity...' _Naruto did not fancy the idea of fighting without his greatest strength, but he didn't have much choice.

"Rokusho Aoi," Naruto began in an emotionless voice, not betraying his internal dilemma, "For betraying Konoha and it's secrets, the penalty is death." With that declaration, Naruto quickly formed a small group of Kage Bunshins, and had them charge in to engage the enemy, while the real Naruto started to form a different set of seals. Aoi was apparently not prepared for the barrage of fireballs from the **Housenka, **nor was he prepared for the shuriken hidden inside of them. Most of Naruto's Kage Bunshins were hit, but they were expendable. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a slightly charred Ame nin, with many light cuts on him.

"Hmph. Brat is more capable than I thought. No matter!" Yelled Aoi as he charged Naruto with the Raijin ready to swing. Naruto used a **Rasengan** to block, while attempting a sweeping kick, which Aoi easily avoided. Naruto managed to create some separation between the two with a solid kick to the stomach. He used the small lull in the action to create a rather large group of Kage Bunshins. Aoi managed to hit a few with needles, but the rest managed to close in and engage him with taijutsu. Although none of the clones could stand against the mighty sword, they did manage to land some solid blows. He finally managed to clear the last of the clones, and charged Naruto again. Again Naruto was forced to create a **Rasengan** to block the attack. _'Damn' _ Naruto thought, _'I can't keep fighting like this!' _Naruto briefly toyed with the idea of removing his weights, but quickly decided the benefit wouldn't be worth the risk if Aoi attempted to attack him while he was busy removing the weights. Not to mention a little part of him wanted to win this fight without having to use his trump card.

Naruto managed to leap away, while throwing a trio of shuriken at Aoi. As they closed in, Naruto again started to form hand seals. When he finished, the three shuriken became thirty due to his **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**. Still, Aoi managed to stop the barrage by countering with an equally large flurry of needles. Aoi fired another batch of needles.. Although he could clearly see that some of the needles were poisoned, he didn't panic, as he knew with his regenerative properties it wouldn't be to hard to flush out the poison. Still, he decided that dodging was preferable to being hit, so he managed to use some advanced acrobatics to avoid every needle. During this brief period, however, Aoi managed to yet again close the gap between the two, and Naruto soon found himself dodging and blocking strikes from the Raijin.

After a few minutes of this, both fighters were getting tired. Although Naruto had yet to be hit, his constant use of **Rasengan** to block the Raijin was starting to wear him down. Aoi was even worse off. Numerous kicks and punches from Naruto and his clones, added to the fireballs and shuriken, were all starting to add up and take their toll on him. That was when Naruto stumbled a bit while trying to dodge one of Aoi's strikes. The Ame nin attempted to take advantage of this by thrusting forward, in a way that would only leave Naruto one direction to dodge, which would leave him wide open to Aoi's follow-up strike.

Sadly for Aoi, Naruto saw through this plan, and decided to take a major gamble. Instead of dodging like Aoi had expected, Naruto unsealed both of his short swords, and blocked his strike. Aoi, who was already in his follow-through swing, was completely caught off guard by the action, and stumbled. Naruto felt the electricity pouring into his body, and the right side of him was already going numb. Gritting his teeth to prevent himself from screaming out, Naruto managed to force his left arm to swing upon the defenseless Aoi. The sickening sound of steel entering flesh was heard, but Naruto was to busy fighting the pain in his body, while falling onto his hands and knees, to notice the head of his enemy separating itself from the rest of his body.

It took nearly a minute, but eventually the energy surge through his body dissipated, and the Kyuubi's regenerative properties dimmed the pain enough for him to regain control of his body. Looking around Naruto could see that the battle had been won. As he figured, Gai and the three genin were able to fight off the nukenins easily enough. The three genin were all sporting various wounds, but none looked to dangerous.

After sealing Aoi's head, along with his two swords, Naruto properly disposed of the bodies with a low powered Katon jutsu. The surviving enemy were all tied to nearby trees, where friendly ninja's would take them into custody once the group alerted them of the nukenins location. With that done, Naruto picked up and examined the Raijin. The sword was very light, and he had first hand experience of its power. The Hokage had told him he could keep the blade if he managed to acquire it. Sadly though, Naruto knew it didn't work well with his style, so he decided to give it to the only other weapon user he knew, Tenten. The reaction she gave when Naruto offered the sword was, to say the least, comical. Her eyes widened to an impossible size, and she couldn't manage any coherent words. Eventually, she managed to sputter out a, "Why?" which caused Naruto to shrug a bit.

"Eh, its a good weapon, but it's not really practical for two weapon fighting. The Hokage said I could do whatever I want with it. Just promise me you won't use it on me if we spar again." Naruto said, while rubbing his heavily burned right arm a bit. Tenten nodded her head so furiously at that question, that Naruto was afraid she was going to break her neck. She took the weapon with a loud squeal. It was at the point where she started giving it wild test swings that Naruto briefly considered taking it back, for his own safety.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

The rest of the mission passed uneventfully, and Naruto found himself back in Konoha three days later. After Gai gave his report, the Hokage dismissed team nine, but asked Naruto to stay behind.

"Well Naruto-kun, you managed to complete the mission, so I guess that makes you a jounin now, congratulations." Naruto gave a small grin at that. "And..." The old Hokage seemed to trail a bit here, "I guess its time for you to learn of your heritage." At this comment, Naruto went into shock. His heritage was something that was always nagging at the back of his mind. The idea that he was an abandoned child or that he was the spawn of notoriously evil parents scared him immensely. Seeing the shock on the boy's face, Sarutobi continued, while pulling out a scroll "This scroll was written for you by your father before his death. I was instructed to give it to you once you hit jounin rank." Naruto took the scroll into his shaking hands, and slowly opened it.

_Naruto,_

_Firstly, I wish to apologize for what I am about to do. Your mother just died giving birth to you, and soon I shall leave the world, while leaving you with a massive burden. _At this, Naruto's eyes went wide as he started to get an idea of where this was going, still he continued to read. _Yes, your father is the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha. I hope to kami that the villagers see you as a hero for what I am about to do, but I have a feeling that it didn't happen that way. If my guess was right, than I am especially proud of you for not giving up in the face of extreme adversity. I instructed Sarutobi to give this to you when you hit jounin rank, although I wouldn't be surprised if you are some crazy super prodigy and only like fifteen or something. _At this Naruto let out a short laugh. _Now that you are strong enough to defend yourself, and those people who are precious to you from my enemies, I ask you to wear the Kazama name with pride. My only two regrets are that I didn't get a chance to see you grow up, and that I never got a chance to read Sensei's new book series... Good luck my son, and know that you have made me proud._

_Signed,_

_Kazama Arashi, Yondaime Hokage and proud father_

_PS Although you don't have any kick ass kekkai genkai like others do, don't think your old man left you without any sort of help. I hope your blond, because sealed inside this scroll is a scroll giving instructions, along with the special kunai needed for my **Hiraishin no Jutsu, **and 'The Yellow Flash' sounds a whole lot cooler than 'The Brown Flash' or something lame like that. Just swipe some blood on the seal, and it will only work with Kazama blood. Of course, this is no reason for you to slack off and not create your own super powerful jutsu eventually._

Naruto stood there for five full minutes with a myriad of emotions flashing through his head. First was shock. _'The Yondaime Hokage...my father? I guess the physical similarities prove that.' _After shock came a little anger. _'I know he didn't mean for it, but I wish he didn't leave me with such a burden..' _After the little bout of anger came happiness. _'Thank god I wasn't an abandoned child or that my parents were evil people.'_ And finally, came insane glee. _'Holy shit! **Hiraishin! **That is like the greatest jutsu ever and now its mine! Oh man I need to go learn it right away!_

During this entire time, the Sandaime Hokage was busy reading the latest volume of Icha Icha Paradise. When Naruto finally noticed this, he couldn't help but develop a little eye twitch. "Geez, I am sitting hear learning that my father was the Yondaime Hokage, and you are sitting there reading one of Jiraiya's books? Thats cold, ojiisan, very cold." This caused Sarutobi to chuckle a little.

"Right, right." Naruto's eye twitched even harder at that casual dismissal. "Where were we? By now Naruto's eye was twitching out of control.

"Who else knows about my father?" Asked Naruto.

"Hmm.. The only other person who knew was Jiraiya." _'That explains why he taught me stuff.' _Thought Naruto. "However, a couple jounin have put the clues together, including the head of the Nara clan, so I would guess the Yamanaka and Akimichi know also. I will start telling your heritage to people who I trust. Will you be using your new name?" Naruto thought about it for a second, before deciding that most of the memories that _Uzumaki_ Naruto had were pretty bad ones. With that in mind, he nodded his head and became Kazama Naruto. "Onto the next order of business. The reason I made you a chunin instructor is because theres an organization of S-class nukenin who are seeking the bijuu. Thats why, for now, I want to minimize your access outside the village. Thankfully, theres some new openings for jounin coming up that don't involve any long term missions outside of Konoha..." Sadly, Naruto knew where this was going.

"You want me to take a genin team, right? Seeing the Sandaime nod, Naruto just sighed.

"Damn... Can I at least pick the team I want?" Asked Naruto in resignation.

Sarutobi nodded, as he held forth a list of the prepared teams. "Hatake Kakashi wants Sasuke on his team, but I doubt you wanted him anyways."

Naruto looked through the list, and saw the only two teams other than the one that Kakashi took that had a realistic chance of being successful ninjas. After a few moments of quick debate, he selected one, and left the office.

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Naruto spent the next two days training with the **Hiraishin**. The principal was simple enough: Throw one of the special kunai at a target, and focus chakra onto the seal on each kunai, (which the scroll did teach Naruto how to create) and using the same physics as **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**, the kunai would than summon the user to its location instantly.

The theory was simple enough, but mastering the jutsu was quite hard, as Naruto found out. Even with liberal use of his Kage Bunshins, progress was quite slow. After two days, Naruto had managed to **Hiraishin** a short distance, but the time it took him from throwing the kunai to when he finally used **Hiraishin** was to long to be practical. Add to that the fact that having multiple kunai made it harder to focus on one seal, and Naruto knew that he was nowheres near being able to use it in a combat situation.

Two days later, Konoha's newest jounin found himself back at the academy. Although he still received a bunch of nasty little glares from villagers, he did pick out a few looks of shock spread amongst them. _'I guess word travels fast...'_ He mused. Seeing that everybody who graduated was there, Naruto began his impromptu speech.

"Congratulations on passing everybody.." Naruto paused a bit, and saw that most of the new genin had smug expressions on their faces. _'Time to knock em down a peg.'_ "Still, most of you in here will be dead in a couple years anyways, so don't start thinking that you are special." The smug looks quickly changed to expressions of shock. "Still, if you remember your training and don't slack off, you may actually amount to something. Now for the teams..." At this, Naruto started to go through the teams, knowing that the first few would never amount to anything.

"Team Seven: Uchiha Sasuke," At this, the entire Uchiha Sasuke fan club perked up, hoping to be on this team. Sasuke himself didn't care, knowing that whoever was placed with him would just hold him back. "Haruno Sakura," Causing said girl to jump up for joy, yelling something about her eternal love for Sasuke. _'A fan girl, shit.' _ Thought Sasuke. _'At least its better than a fan boy...'_ "and Mitorushu Ryo." Seeing the boy have a similar reaction to Sakura, Sasuke scowled even more then normal_ 'Kill me now, Itachi...' _"Your jounin instructor is Hatake Kakashi."

"Team Eight: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Your jounin instructor is Yuuhi Kurenai. " Kiba let out a small whoop of joy, while the other two remained silent. Still, none of them were disappointed with the team, as they all knew each other, and knew they were all capable shinobi. Knowing that team Nine was still in circulation, Naruto, (with a small shudder at the memories) went on to the next team.

"Team Ten: Nara Shikamaru, " Said genin woke up at hearing his name called. "Akimichi Chouji," The large boy grinned happily at being with his best friend, and even Shikamaru managed to find a small smirk to be not to troublesome. "and Yamanaka Ino." This one caused both boys to get a bit scared, especially once they started to feel the killing intent emanating from their final teammate. _'Crap!' _ Ino fumed, _'I am stuck with those lazy bastards. Hopefully our jounin isn't as bad.'_ It seems that the fates were kind to Ino as Naruto finished, "Your jounin instructor...is me." He ended, with a cheerful grin that made the two lazy genin to shudder a bit, while causing Ino to cheer happily.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Hakkeshou Kaiten: **Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin

**Hiraishin no Jutsu:** Flying Thunder God Technique

A/N: Another chapter in the books! A bit shorter than the previous couple, so I apologize for that.

It may not seem it, but Lee and Gai are two of my more well liked people in Naruto, but I couldn't resist sticking in some humor from our favorite Green Beasts. So if any Lee or Gai fans out there read this and get offended, don't be, they will still kick the requisite number of asses to be cool.

Since it was just some filler arc, I actually forgot most of Aoi's abilities. All I remember was that he used needles and had the Raijin. If I messed up something about him, just tell me and I will see what I can do about fixing it.

I really have no idea how the **Hiraishin** works, except that it involves the Yondaime's three-pronged kunai, and a lot of teleportation. If my explanation of it was wrong, tell me, and I will happily change it.

And yes, I did put an OC onto team 7 to fill out the ranks, but worry not. His role in the story will be limited. I am thinking something along the lines of the opponent of a certain red haired genin from Suna in the Chunin exam's, maybe...

Most of you already figured I was putting Naruto in charge of team ten, so I doubt it's much of a shock. Shikamaru is easily my favorite character in the Naruto universe, so giving Naruto the next generation was something that I had planned for a while.


	5. Team Ten

The newly created Team Ten found themselves on top of the academy roof. Naruto appraised each of his charges for a few minutes, while mentally coming up with a plan of action for his new team. Eventually, he came to a decision.

"Alright, since we all know each other, introductions are meaningless. To be honest, there is supposed to be another test, meant to cut the nine graduating teams into three teams of genin," The genin looked shocked at this statement, but Naruto paid them no heed as he continued, "but the tests are usually based on teamwork, and I know for a fact your families have drilled the value of teamwork into the three of you, not to mention that I know for a fact that you three have been forced to work with each other extensively in the past." All three nodded at this, having been forced into listening to many tales of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho in action, and their parents had been trying to get them to repeat them. "In lieu of this, I think it would be easiest for us to not take the test, but say we actually did." The three were openly gaping at their sensei's laziness, although none of the three would dare complain about it.

After a few minutes of pondering a plan of action, Naruto finally continued. "Since we aren't doing the test, I think I shall soon introduce you to the Kazama Naruto training regimen from hell!" He proudly exclaimed, causing all three genin to shudder, although they all did take note of his name. They, like so many others, had heard the rumors of Naruto's heritage, but to hear it from his own mouth served as confirmation.

"Thankfully," Naruto continued, "you are all similar enough so the same methods should work with all three of you." Here, Naruto turned to Chouji, who gulped loudly. "Chouji, you are slow. Without speed you are useless." Chouji slumped to the ground in defeat, while Ino snickered at him. Seeing this, Naruto went on to his next victim. "Ah... Ino-chan. You have a slight problem also. You are weak! I doubt I would even feel it if you punched me right now." This time, Ino sighed in defeat, while Chouji snickered slightly. With those two down, Naruto turned to Shikamaru. Although Shikamaru didn't show any visible reaction to being targeted, the other two knew this one would be interesting, so they made sure to listen to the show. "Hmm.. I think instead of pointing out your faults, I should point out your strengths, because I don't want to be here all day." The young Nara sighed in defeat, while the other two were chuckling quietly. "Actually, the first way is funner I think. Not only are you the laziest bastard I know, but you are as slow as Chouji and as weak as Ino." By this time, the other two were laughing uproariously, while Shikamaru just muttered something about 'troublesome sensei. "Happily for you three, I know just the solution!"

Soon, Team Ten found themselves in the nearest weapon shop. Naruto had been to this place many times before, and he knew the old man who owned the shop is always friendly and helpful. He turned to his three charges. "I have always believed that a ninja should have a good weapon to compliment his or her fighting style, so go and find something that you think will work good for you." After his three genin dispersed, Naruto turned to the store owner. "Yo old man, I need three sets of weights for my new team."

After taking a quick glance at the three, the owner posed a simple question to Naruto. "You want the light healthy weights for them to start with, or the 'so brutally heavy that they won't be able to move for a week' weights?" At this comment, the three were scared to all hell at this. They tried to silently convince Naruto to go with the former. Sadly, the jounin just smirked, and calmly asked for the latter, causing the three to silently weep, and rue the day they ever met one Kazama Naruto. The shopkeeper nodded, quickly got the body weight of the three, and went to the back to prepare the appropriate amount of weights.

About half an hour later, the three had found what they deemed to be suitable weapons. Chouji had found a massive zanbatou. It didn't take long for Naruto to conjure up images of a house sized Chouji swinging an even bigger sword once he learned some of his advanced Akimichi jutsu, so he easily agreed to the selection. Shikamaru's selection was a bit more unorthodox, but no less effective, as he found a long thin chain to use. While chains were quite rare as shinobi weapons, Naruto knew the choice was good, as it would make a great extension for his **Kagemane**. Since her family jutsu didn't really work well with any specific weapon, Ino's selection was a bit more basic. Her weapon of choice was a basic katana, which would help her significantly if she found herself in a close quarter battle with a larger foe. She did, however, grab a pack of senbon needles, as they could be used to temporarily paralyze a foe allowing her to use her mind control techniques without fear of missing. After gathering the selections, along with an extra set of senbon and second chain, Naruto went to purchase everything. The extras were for him to train with, as he knew a couple days and a hundred Kage Bunshins would allow him to learn the weapons easily, so he could effectively train his students. When he reached the counter, the old man waved him off, declaring everything free, claiming that he owed Naruto's father.

"Now that thats all done," Naruto started, once the team made it to a nearby training grounds, "For now, all I want you to do is adjust to life with these weights on." He said, while holding out a set of weights to each student. _'Naruto carried all three sets easily, so they can't be that bad...right?' _went through all three genin's heads as they went to take the offered items. Sadly, Naruto's strength far surpassed the three of them, so it came as little surprise when all three dropped like logs once Naruto released his grip on each set of weights. After pulling themselves from the ground, and putting on the weights, all three were openly cursing the blonde jounin.

"Oh come on, quit acting like babies. Those things were only set to be half your current body weight. I was wearing weights heavier than them at age eleven! Just deal with it!" Naruto exclaimed. Judging by the massive increase in killing intent directed his way, Naruto guessed that his attempt at encouragement failed spectacularly. _'Oh well, its their problem, not mine.'_ He thought happily. "Alright, you are to keep them on at all times, except when bathing or sleeping. For the next month or so, we will probably be stuck with boring D-ranked missions, so that will be a good chance for you to adjust to your new weight. Since none of you can stand up right now, I guess we can't do any real training for now, so you are all dismissed. We will meet here every day, at eight." Naruto finished. _'Not to mention this gives me more time to work on learning those weapons and the **Hiraishin**.' _Naruto gleefully thought as he watched the genin drag themselves away.

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The next two weeks passed quickly for Naruto. (although the three genin found it to be the longest two weeks of their young lives) He had finally got a rudimentary grasp of the **Hiraishin**, although he still couldn't use it properly with multiple kunai around. Still, even with his massive use of Kage Bunshin, Naruto was quite pleased with himself for somewhat learning a legendary S-ranked jutsu in two weeks. Also, he managed to gain a firm grasp of how to properly use the senbon and chain. Because of this, he had started Team Ten on basic weapon training after their daily missions.

The missions themselves proved to be quite challenging for the movement impaired genin. The first attempt at retrieving the cat of the Fire Lord's wife ended in miserable disaster once the cat discovered it could easily outrun the three genin. After seven hours of being humiliated by the fur ball, Naruto finally intervened and easily caught the feline. The three genin swore they saw the cat taunting them while in Naruto's arms, and it took the jounin's best efforts to prevent his team from murdering the cat right there. Still, after two weeks the three had become used to the weights. Seeing this, Naruto decided to amp up the training.

"Alright, I am very proud of you all for working hard and becoming comfortable with all that weight, even if I had to force some of you to work with a liberal use of my kunai." Naruto stated, with a sharp glance in Shikamaru's direction. "Because of your accomplishments, I have a gift for you three." Now all three genin were very interested in this conversation, and all leaned in eagerly to see what the gift was. That eagerness quickly turned to horror when Naruto pulled out more weights. "These weights are about twenty five percent heavier than your old ones, so they shouldn't take you to long to get used to." Naruto stated with a cheerful grin. Not surprisingly, Ino was cursing up a storm at her sadistic teacher. Hell, even Shikamaru looked ready to riot. Seeing this, Naruto decided that he should get on the next part of his plan before he found himself maimed horribly. "Also, I think that it is time for me to teach you all a powerful ninjutsu." Quickly, the rage was forgotten, and again the three genin were listening eagerly. Naruto had once told them that they would have to learn most of their jutsu from their families, since Naruto was not a ninjutsu specialist. "Unlike most jounin instructors who teach genin the most basic of jutsu and let them work up slowly, I have found a more...different approach to be wildly successful for me. Because of this, I am going to teach you all an A-rank kinjutsu that will probably end up being useless for you guys in battle. Still, with this jutsu, you will be able to accomplish things much quicker than others. As a matter of fact, this is the jutsu that made me into what I am today!" Naruto stated with an arrogant pose. The three looked at him in anticipation for a few minutes, before finally becoming impatient.

"Uh..." Ino began, "Are you ever going to tell us the name of this jutsu?" She asked, causing Naruto to blink rapidly for a few seconds, before his eyes widened in realization. He quickly slapped his head at forgetting that important detail.

"Err.. right. This jutsu is the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**. What it basically does is creates a solid clone of yourself. The reason it is labeled as a kinjutsu is because the chakra requirements are way to high to be considered practical for most people, so I doubt you will ever want to use it in a combat situation. Still, it will help a lot in those D-Ranked missions, not to mention it has a very very nice benefit with training..." With that, Naruto went into the same explanation that the Sandaime had many years ago. By the end of the lecture, all three members of Team Ten were in awe at the usefulness of this jutsu. "Although it is considered to be an A-ranked jutsu, it is surprisingly easy to learn. It just takes a lot of chakra." With that, Naruto started to teach the jutsu to the group.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

The next month or so passed in a similar way for Team Ten. Between D-Ranked missions and training, the three genin found themselves without much free time. Although none of the three were to enthused with Naruto's enforced pace of training, it wasn't hard for him to get them all to accept it without complaining to much. Ino was the easiest, as she already possessed a strong desire to become more powerful, even if her reasoning wasn't the best. (Kicking Sakura's ass for spurning Ino's friendship, maybe even kicking Sasuke's ass for making her waste her time) Chouji was a bit more difficult, but Naruto managed to bribe him with lots of food. Shikamaru was the hardest, because he had no real ambition to become stronger. Still, he proved his friendship to Chouji as he accepted the training just because Chouji wanted it. (That, and the fact that Naruto threatened to talk to his mother about it)

Like Naruto had predicted, the three easily learned the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**, although they couldn't use it nearly as well as Naruto. Ino and Chouji were able to create and maintain three clones each over the course of a full day, while Shikamaru managed five, which probably had something to do with his families affinity towards the shadow element. Still, this drastically cut down on mission time and also made training easier. With the Kage Bunshins they easily managed to get down the tree climbing and water walking exercises, while also keeping up with the more physical training. Although he didn't show it, Naruto was somewhat impressed with the speed that the three were going through their weights at. Although it was nowheres as fast as he could go, that was to be expected, since they lacked his near limitless stamina and ability to constantly regenerate muscles that he had.

Knowing that he didn't possess many jutsu to teach them, Naruto gave his genin team the weekends off, but made sure that a large portion of that free time was spent with them learning family jutsu's from their parents. Still, this didn't prevent him from teaching a few of the lower level jutsu that he knew, like **Katon: Housenka no Jutsu** and **Doton: Shinju Zanshuu no Jutsu. **Still, Naruto decided that it would be best to eventually find a more dedicated ninjutsu and genjutsu trainer for his team sometime.

It was on that Wednesday that Team Ten finally found itself in the Hokage's office, ready for a higher ranked mission.

"Ah, Team Ten. I have another exciting batch of D-Ranked missions in store for..." Sadly, the Hokage was cut off by a very irate Ino.

"Thats it! If we have to another of these damn D-Ranked missions than I will be forced to introduce my senbon needles to some vital male organs!" She screamed, causing every male shinobi in the room to shudder in terror at the threat. Still, Naruto cheered up awfully fast.

"Take that ojiisan! I win the bet!" He stated in a singsong voice. The old man scowled, but handed over a handful of cash, all the while Ino was trying to control her rising temper.

"What. Was. The. Bet.?" She 'calmly' asked. Needless to say, the situation became quite tense. For an outsider, it may have been humorous looking, as the Hokage and a jounin were both cowering in terror of a mere genin. Eventually, Naruto gathered the courage to answer.

"Ah.. It was nothing Ino-chan. The Hokage believed that you would last a few more days before blowing up, but I disagreed. Things just...escalated from there. See? No big deal." Naruto gave her a hopeful look, and even the Hokage was looking on in anticipation. Both Shikamaru and Chouji were cowering in the corner, praying to whatever deity was listening that their friend would survive this day. After hearing his reasonable answer, Ino gave a sweet little smile, before giving a very calm and well thought reply.

"Of course. No big deal at all. Sadly, you both die now." With that, Ino advanced on the pair, fully intending on sending them to meet Shinigami prematurely. Thankfully, the Sandaime had many years of experience in dealing with short tempered kunoichi.

"You said you wanted a higher ranked mission, right?" He asked, causing Ino to instantly forget her rage as she nodded eagerly. The other two genin were also looking on in interest once they realized that no blood would be spilled this day. "Hmm.. We actually have no C-ranked missions available, however, we do have a B-ranked mission that might work well with your unique skills..." Four sets of eyes went wide at this.

"I have faith in my team, so if you think they are ready for a B-ranked mission, than who am I to argue?" Naruto finally asked.

"Good, good. A few hours ago I received a message from one of Kakashi's nin-dogs. Apparently, the C-ranked mission that his team went on has had a few complications. From what his message stated, the man they are escorting is being targeted by a rich businessman named Gatoh, who has hired several nukenins in order to assassinate him. Kakashi's team can take care of itself, but this presents Konoha with a unique opportunity." Seeing Naruto's questioning expression, Sarutobi elaborated. "We have known that Gatoh has been involved in underhand dealings for quite some time, but attacking a civilian businessman without proof would make us look bad in the eyes of other nations. Now that we have a reason to take action against Gatoh, it would be in Konoha's best interests to seize his financial assets while eliminating him as a threat. Given your team's...unique abilities, I think this mission would work well for you. There shouldn't be much danger of a hard fight, but the mission was given a B-rank because of its importance."

Naruto saw the reasoning in the explanation, and decided that it would be a worthwhile venture for his team. With that in mind, he easily accepted the mission and told the genin to prepare for a mission that could last up to two weeks before meeting him at the east gate in two hours. Even though he gave his genin two hours, he was prepared and at the gate in under thirty minutes. Having time to spend, Naruto started to ponder whether or not to tell his team about the creature sealed inside of him. _'I really don't have much choice.' _The rational part of his mind mused. _'That organization that is after me could strike me at any time outside of Konoha. Being with me, those three are at huge risk, and deserve to know about any possible threats that we could encounter while on mission. Not to mention the fact that their families already accept me, so I can count on a good word if they ask about me after the mission. Still...' _This time it was the emotional part of Naruto's mind speaking, _'What if they don't accept me? I don't think I could survive with a team who fears me, not to mention the fact that I consider them just as much my friends as I do my subordinates. Damn it I don't want to do this...'_ Eventually, Naruto came to the only possible conclusion: He would have to tell them, and pray for the best. A lot of time had passed while he was in deep thought, and soon his team arrived.

"Guys, before we begin, there is an important S-ranked secret I need to tell you, that could have an impact on our mission." He was about to continue, but Shikamaru cut him off.

"Let me guess, your father sealed the nine tailed demon fox inside of you?" He casually asked. Needless to say, Naruto was stunned. The way Shikamaru said it left no doubt in Naruto's mind that he wasn't guessing, and judging by the lack of shock on the faces of the other two, they knew also! Eventually, he managed to find his voice.

"H..how did you guys know?" He managed to croak out.

"Er.. its kind of a funny story, actually." Began Ino. Naruto ushered her to continue. "Well, every week our fathers like to get together and drink. One of those times, when the three of us were together, they stumbled home quite drunk. Eventually, they started to talk about you. We didn't really pay much attention, until they started to sing 'For he's a jolly good jinchuuriki.' We had no idea what that word meant, but Shikamaru managed to find a few mentions of it. The next day, we confronted them, and they told us the truth about how your father couldn't kill the Kyuubi, so he sealed it inside of you. They swore us to secrecy though, so we haven't told anybody.." Naruto wasn't sure if he should feel elated that his friends already knew his dirty secret and didn't seem to care, or if he should be shocked that three of Konoha's more famous jounin could be so irresponsible. He eventually decided on the former, but made a note to use this information as blackmail material down the line.

"Well," He finally said, "I guess that it is a good thing you already know. The reason I brought this up is because an unknown group of powerful nukenins is seeking the power of the demons and I am one of their targets. If we should encounter one of them during our mission, you are to quickly flee, and eventually make your way back to Konoha in order to get help. I know that even I would have difficulties trying to beat one of them, and from what I know, they generally travel in groups of two. So promise me if we encounter any of them, you will leave." He said, with a look that hinted that he was giving no room for argument. Although the genin didn't like the idea of leaving a friend behind, they all nodded their agreement, knowing that they would only be hindering Naruto in a fight of that caliber.

It took three days before they finally made it to Wave, but they managed to do it while remaining undetected. The group had removed their hitai-ates along with any noticeable ninja tools, as it could prove troublesome if Gatoh got word of another Konoha team sent to face him. With that same idea in mind, the team decided it would be wisest to not reveal their presence to Kakashi's team. Although most teams would have to go out and search for information on Gatoh's base of operations, for Team Ten's skills, it was much easier.

It didn't take them much time to find a small group of Gatoh's thugs. Team Ten followed them discreetly until they reached an unpopulated area before striking. Although the enemy numbered six, mere thugs proved to be no match for the trained nin. All it took was a quick **Kagemane no Jutsu,** followed by Ino using **Shintenshin no Jutsu** to capture one of the enemy, and Chouji finishing it off by knocking the other five out with a **Nikudan Sensha.** It only took a few minutes in control of the thug's mind before Ino was able to extract the necessary information on the location of Gatoh's hideout, as well as other useful little tidbits of information about Gatoh's company.

After tying up the thugs, the group proceeded to Gatoh's hideout while using **Henge** to impersonate the missing thugs. (A couple of Naruto's Kage Bunshins evened the numbers) Although some of the thugs had been trained to see through lower level illusion techniques, using information gleaned from Ino's mind probe, the group managed to get the thug's personalities down enough to not arouse suspicion. Although the compound was rather large, it wasn't hard to find out where Gatoh was stationed. The group found themselves in a large room. Naruto counted a little over two dozen thugs in the room, which held only one exit, although Naruto had a feeling that a hidden escape passage was somewheres in the room. In the center was an ornate looking throne, which Gatoh was currently sitting comfortably on. _'So he fancies himself a king, eh?_ _I guess this makes what we are about to do checkmate.'_ Mused Naruto, while giving out subtle hand gestures, which the three genin easily read as _Shikamaru and Ino get the target, Chouji and myself will deal with the rest.' _

With a simple hand seal, a half dozen Kage Bunshins appeared, and with the two Kage Bunshins already in existence, began a brutal offensive on the startled thugs. Chouji went back to his **Nikudan Sensha, **and since the thugs lacked the speed or response time of a trained nin, they were little more than bowling pins for the young Akimichi. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted Shikamaru successfully attach his **Kagemane** to Gatoh and the thugs nearest to him. With them immobilized, it was a simple matter for Ino to casually remove them as threats with swift chops to the neck, before finally using her **Shintenshin **to take control of the rich businessman. A few more thugs, overhearing the commotion, came running into the room, but soon found themselves ambushed by a Kage Bunshin that Naruto had left by the exit.

Almost as soon as it began, it was over, as Team Ten dispatched the thugs effortlessly. After a few minutes tying up the unconscious thugs, the Konoha shinobi proceeded onto the next part of the mission. After a few minutes searching through his mind, 'Gatoh' gave a small whistle.

"Damn, this guy is paranoid. Most of his cash is located inside a safe...which is inside a larger safe, which is located inside of a hidden room, and the only way to get to that hidden room is through a trap filled corridor. Of course, Gatoh didn't trust anybody else, so there should be no guards."

With 'Gatoh' leading them, it wasn't hard for the group to make it past the traps and into the hidden room. With Ino in firm control of Gatoh's body, it was easy to extract the unusually long safe combination for both safes. Naruto was slightly impressed. Low level ninjutsu would not be able to break through the inner safe, while a higher level technique would more than likely destroy the goods inside of it. Naruto quickly seized the contents of the safe, which consisted mostly of cash, (and a whole lot of that) along with a few important business documents and deeds. With the mission complete, Ino released her jutsu allowing Naruto to remove the businessman as a threat to Konoha in a rather permanent way. With the mission complete, Naruto and his team left Wave for Konoha, but Naruto summoned Gamakichi to deliver a report to Kakashi's team detailing the events that had just occurred.

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A few hours later, Haku, who was returning from gathering herbs to make medicine for the injured Zabuza, discovered the scene. He easily picked out the body of Gatoh, along with the kunai lodged in his neck. Ignoring the tied up thugs (who would eventually be taken into custody by Wave citizens), Haku made his way to the room that Zabuza was holed up in and was slightly relieved to see that it had been undisturbed, although Haku knew Zabuza could defend himself if need be. The feminine boy made his way to his master and carefully woke him up.

"Zabuza-sama, I think that we will have to abandon this mission."

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It was an uneventful trip back to Konoha for Team Ten, and soon they found themselves in the Hokage's office reporting on the success on the mission. The Hokage seemed rather pleased with the amount of cash that they managed to seize.

"You know," Said the Sandaime, while he privately wondered how many of Jiraiya's books he could buy with the cash, "The Chunin exams are coming up in a month. With a B-ranked mission under their belts, your team is more than qualified. You might want to think about submitting them." Naruto received a pair of hopeful looks from Ino and Chouji and he even got a look that conveyed slight interest from Shikamaru.

"Hn.. I will think about it. I guess I will have to step up the training a bit." Naruto was wearing a very wide smirk as he said this, causing all three genin to shiver a little bit.

The next month was, to put it lightly, brutal. Naruto decided that the previous eight hour training schedule was insufficient for his chunin hopefuls, so he instead decided to settle with a tidy little ten hour schedule. Because of this, the three found themselves constantly driven to the brink of exhaustion. Still, Naruto was very impressed with their progress. They had all more than doubled their beginning weights. Naruto decided that he would not want to be on the receiving end of one of Chouji's punches. Naruto spent most of the training time improving the three in their taijutsu and weapon's skills. Add to that the fact that Naruto had subtly asked the three fathers to give them more advanced family training, (more like Naruto had threatened them with their slip-up of an S-ranked secret) and Naruto had no doubts that his team was ready. Still, he wanted to make them sweat it a bit.

"Well, I guess now is the time that I have to decide if you three are ready for the chunin exams..." He trailed off. His team looked at him expectantly. Hell, even Shikamaru looked as excited as he could get, although Naruto guessed it was more about ending the hellish training than any real desire to enter the exams. Naruto let out a loud yawn. "Still... I am not sure if you guys are ready. The chunin exams aren't games..." Judging by the scandalous looks the genin were sending him, Naruto guessed they were not expecting to hear that. "Hmm.."

Not surprisingly, it was Ino who finally snapped. "After that last month, you have no right in telling us that we are not ready, you blonde bastard!" She shouted, fully ignoring the fact that she was also a blonde. Naruto blinked a bit, trying to feign surprise at that outburst.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Ino-chan. That last month was a good light workout, I will give you that, but I don't know if it is good enough for the exams..." Apparently, that was not right answer, as Ino gave out an incomprehensible war cry, and lunged at Naruto with her sword in hand. It took a **Kagemane** from Shikamaru to stop the enraged Yamanaka from brutally murdering the young Kazama. "Ahh.. I was just kidding Ino-chan! Of course you guys are ready for the chunin exams! You can put away the sword now." Naruto asked hopefully.

"That's good!" Chirped Ino, with a smug look on her face, before turning to her two teammates, who somehow managed to not run in terror from her gaze. "And if you bastards stop me from becoming chunin... " Ino left the rest of the message unsaid, but the katana she was still waving about helped the two grasped the meaning anyways. Needless to say, the two easily decided that Ino was the most dangerous threat in the exams.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Shintenshin no Jutsu: **Mind Body Switch Technique

**Nikudan Sensha: **Meat Tank

A/N: Hmm.. I was kinda disappointed in this chapter. I was hoping to do more with the mission, but I just couldn't find any real inspiration. Hopefully the next chapter comes easier to me. I think I am just going to turn this into a NaruInoTen, as any more people might make it troublesome.


	6. First and Second Exams

Naruto sighed for the eleventh time of the day. It was the day of the first exam so his genin weren't around. Still, Naruto had planned on putting his free time to good use, but no. Come to find out, all jounin-senseis of participating teams had to wait in the jounin lounge for the completion of the written exam. In other words, Naruto was forced to spend the hour in a room filled with people more than twice his age talking about things that bored him to no end. To be blunt, Naruto was bored. He sighed again, this time catching the attention of the silver-haired cyclops sitting next to him.

"Hmm.. You must be Sensei's son." Naruto looked at the man quizzically so the jounin elaborated. "The Yondaime was my sensei." Seeing Naruto give a small nod of confirmation, he continued. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, by the way."

"Oh! Your the guy who my team was sent to rescue in Wave, right? Pleased to meet you!" Naruto exclaimed...loudly.

"You didn't rescue us... you just provided assistance." Muttered Kakashi, all the while mentally cursing the boy for trying to ruin his proud reputation. The copy-nin was mortified to see some of the other jounin snicker lightly in the Hatake's direction.

"Yosh! Naruto-kun's youthful spirit has rescued my eternal rival from the jaws of unyouthful defeat! Your youthful spirit might even surpass my own! I will have to rekindle my own flames of youth by rescuing my eternal rival from an unyouthful bear!" Of course this came from Gai.

Naruto sighed again. He missed being bored, because at least that didn't involve a giant green dude with massive eyebrows crowing on about 'The Flames of Youth' loudly.

"So..." Continued Kakashi after a few moments while trying to ignore the Green Beast. "I have heard that you are fairly strong. Care to have a spar sometime during the second exam?" Truth be told, Kakashi was very interested in facing the young jounin who supposedly knew some of the jutsu that his former-sensei created.

Although Naruto knew very little about the man, he decided that a spar would be a nice break from his constant training. With that thought, Naruto quickly accepted.

"So... how do you think the kids are doing?

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Team Ten made their way to the examination room, easily passing by the genjutsu. "Hah. Look at all those idiots. Don't they know that this is the second floor?" Asked Ino quietly as they passed.

"I agree." Muttered Shikamaru. His eyes narrowed, however, when he saw a smug looking Sasuke leading Team Seven approach. "Sadly, it looks like that troublesome idiot isn't going to be doing us any favors in reducing the numbers." True to form, Sasuke arrogantly demanded that the guards release the illusion. Shikamaru sighed, unknowingly doing a good imitation of his sensei, before the trio left the scene.

It wasn't long before the three were in the correct exam room. Seeing that they still had a few minutes to spare, the group started picking out potential threats from the crowd.

"That team from Suna is creepy." Said Chouji with a small shudder. The other two turned to the source of Chouji's fear and couldn't help but agree. The large boy wearing the Kabuki paint and the blonde kunoichi with the massive fan were bad enough, but the red haired shinobi was even worse. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, and yet that did little to detract from his intimidating factor. Something about him seemed evil, almost...demonic.

After a few minutes of searching for good teams, one of the teams that had just entered caught the group's attention. "Hmm.. Another Hyuuga. Must be Hyuuga Neji, last years rookie of the year. Troublesome." Muttered Shikamaru as the three analyzed Gai's team, before deeming it a potential threat. They didn't get to check out any more opponents as Team Seven and Team Eight arrived.

"You guys are here also? Don't expect to get past Team Eight!" Kiba exclaimed proudly. Of course, the members of Team Ten merely ignored Kiba.

"Heh, in your dreams dog breath." Stated the proud Uchiha, with his two teammates in tow.

"Ino-pig! Ready to go down?" Asked Sakura as she approached her so-called rival. Sakura looked completely the same as she did back in the academy, Ino noted.

"Did you even train at all Sakura?" She asked, causing the pink haired girl to blink in confusion.

"Hmph. Why would I need to do that, pig? Unlike you and the loser duo, I have Sasuke-kun on my team." This caused the Yamanaka to stare in disbelief. _'You weren't this bad before you first saw Sasuke. I want to be your friend again, but it looks like I will have to beat your obsession with that jerk out of you.'_

"Will you _kids_ please keep it down?" Asked a newcomer to the group. They all turned to the older looking bespectacled genin who made the comment. "You rookies are pissing off the other ninja." He said while pointing behind the group to where the rest of the chunin hopeful were. Most of them were glaring at the nine rookies. A few of the less confident genin were starting to wilt under the fierce glares. The tension in the room was deadly thick.

And than Shikamaru yawned loudly. Instantly, all the attention was focused on the Nara genius. Shikamaru sweatdropped slightly.

"Hell yeah!" Yelled Ino. "Show these bastards that we won't be intimidated by them! Team Ten will kick all their asses!" This statement caused Shikamaru to blink a few times.

"Eeer... I only yawned because I am tired." Shikamaru stated, causing the assembled rookies to collectively face fault into the ground. "This whole exam is too troublesome for me."

"Damn it! This was the one time in your worthless life that you did something cool and you had to go and blow it!" Growled Ino. The older genin who had approached the group looked like he wanted to say something more, but the arrival of the proctors cut him off.

"Alright you bastards listen up. My name is Morino Ibiki and I am the proctor in charge of the first exam." He than proceeded to hand out the tests and explain the rules. Nobody in Team Ten really paid much attention, because they could easily see that this test was based on information gathering, which was one of the many things that Naruto had drilled into their heads during the academy days. Because of this, the first exam proved to be extremely easy for the Konoha genin. Shikamaru, being a closet genius, already knew the answers. All he did was use a simple **Kagemane** on Chouji before writing the answers on his paper. He didn't bother with using it on Ino because he knew that it would be easier and much less noticeable for her to just use her **Shintenshin **on somebody, which she did. The unlucky victim just happened to be Sakura. With that done, the trio just sat back and waited for the final question. (Actually, Ino and Chouji waited while Shikamaru went to sleep)

"Time for the tenth question! This question is optional. If you choose to not take it, you and your team will automatically fail the exam." This of course prompted a barrage of questions from the chunin hopeful. "Quiet! If you do take the tenth question and you get it wrong, you will never be allowed to take the chunin exams again!"

A few of the teams immediately quit. Chouji looked around the room a bit and saw that a lot of the remaining genin were looking very undecided. _'If someone were to speak up he could easily remove the doubt from their minds...'_ Chouji mused. He saw Shikamaru, who was currently still sleeping, which caused Chouji to sigh at his friend's action. A few more teams quit leaving only the teams with a solid resolve left.

"I see the rest of you have decided to stay. Very well. In that case... you all pass!" Ibiki proceeded to explain the tenth question to the confused genin. Almost exactly when he finished, the window shattered and in came a purple haired kunoichi wearing very revealing clothes, causing many of the male genin to suffer mild nosebleeds.

"You are early, Anko..." Said the scarred proctor with a small sigh.

"Sixteen teams left..." She started, ignoring him. "Not bad Ibiki. Still..." Her expression quickly changed to one of sadistic glee, "I will make sure to cut your number in half...at least."

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_'Geez... I have to spend the next five days in this place?'_ Mentally whined Naruto as he scanned the tower inside the so-called 'Forest of Death' that he and the rest of the jounin instructors had to call home while they waited for their teams to complete the next exam. In Naruto's opinion, the place was rather...bare. _'If I had known that I would have to go through all this junk I would not have entered my team into this exam...' _Still, Naruto kept most of his complaining to himself as he prepared for a very dull five days. At least he still had that spar with Kakashi planned for the next day.

Naruto sighed yet again. Here he was stuck in a boring tower for five days with nothing to do except train in a relatively uncomfortable indoor environment. _'Hopefully this place at least serves ramen...'_ he thought to himself. (It didn't, as he later found out) He briefly wondered if his genin team was having fun in the exam...

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

"Holy shit!" Yelled Ino as she and the other members of Team Ten dodged attacks from their opponent. Although they didn't fear to many of the other teams, their current foe was proving to be a bit much for them. Needless to say, they were not having fun. About ten minutes after the exam started and they were already in a do-or-die situation.

"Geez, they really weren't kidding around when they claimed that this forest had giant man-eating creatures in it, did they?" Muttered Shikamaru as he tried to trap his massive eight legged foe with his **Kagemane**, but no no avail, as the giant arachnid easily shook off the shadow-user's assault. Thankfully, Chouji had more success with his **Bubun Baika no Jutsu**, as he enlarged his arm in order to punch the massive spider. It did little more than stun the creature, but it gave Team Ten a chance to escape.

"Hah! I am glad I got my dad to teach me that technique." Proudly stated Chouji as he pulled out a bag of chips.

"We are stuck in here for five days, shouldn't you try and conserve those?" Asked Shikamaru as he eyed the bag of potato chips. Amazingly, Chouji didn't seem worried.

"That just means we need to complete this exam quickly." Wisely stated Chouji. The other two blinked. _'That actually made sense...'_

"So how are we going to do this?" Asked Ino?

"Well.." Drawled out Shikamaru. "None of us have any advanced tracking abilities like some of the other teams do, so our best bet is to head in the same direction that everybody else will eventually go in." Seeing a pair of questioning looks, he sighed. "The tower. Everybody will head to the tower. All we have to do is head in that direction and we will eventually find someone. Not only that, but if we do find the Earth scroll that we need, we will already be close to the tower, so there will be less chance of losing our scrolls to another team." It was a sound plan, so Team Ten set out in the direction of the tower.

A few hours later, Team Ten found themselves setting up camp for the night. Although they had made good progress, getting over halfway to the tower, they had yet to find another team.

"Hmm.. I expect a lot of other teams will try and use the night to their advantage. I think I have an idea of how to work that in our favor..."

Later that night a team of nin from Kusa, seeing the light from the campfire from far away, arrived at the camp. The sight of a sleeping Ino and Shikamaru, with a barely alert Chouji on guard duty was a welcome sight for the nin in search of a scroll. It was almost comically easy for them to sneak up on the inattentive Akimichi and his two teammates.

"Give us your scroll and we won't have to kill you." Said the apparent leader as he held a kunai to Chouji's throat. The other two nin were in similar positions with the sleeping members of Team Ten. In response to the threat, Chouji snickered, causing the Kusa nin to snarl. "What's so funny?" When Chouji's snickers turned into full-bore laughter, the nin snarled. "That's it fatass, time to die!" With that, he swung his kunai. Or at least he tried to. "What the hell?" Neither of the other two could move either.

"**Kagemane no Jutsu,** success." Said the real Shikamaru as Team Ten emerged from a nearby tree. The Team Ten that had been captured vanished with a poof, signifying that they had been Kage Bunshins. Chouji knocked the captured team out, while Ino searched for any useful supplies, along with their scroll. She frowned slightly as she held up another Heaven scroll, but pocketed it anyways, in hopes of either trading it or using it to escape from a troublesome situation. Seeing that it was late and another ambush was unlikely, Team Ten found a more defensible position before retiring for the night.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Naruto stood in the small arena facing his foe. Across from him stood Konoha's Copy-Cat Kakashi. Apparently, word of the spar had gotten around, as many jounin had shown up to watch. Naruto knew the reason that they were there is because they wanted to see him, so he decided it would be best for him to not disappoint. Even the recently arrived Team Eight and the team from Suna had shown up, although the latter looked rather bored.

"I won't hold back," Naruto said as he started to remove his weights, causing Gai to go into another of his speeches, which everyone ignored, "so I would advise that you do the same." Kakashi seemed to contemplate this for a moment, before finally nodding and lifting the hitai-ate exposing his Sharingan. Naruto had never seen the Sharingan before, but he knew all about it. When both nodded that they were ready, the fight quickly began.

Naruto started it off by flinging a handful of kunai in Kakashi's direction. Kakashi easily dodged, all the while wondering what the young jounin was doing with such a poor attack. What the Hatake didn't know was that Naruto had thrown one of his **Hiraishin** kunai while using regular kunai to hide it from the sharingan. Naruto easily picked it out among the kunai that littered the ground, but decided to save it as his trump card. A few of the jounin from Konoha also saw the kunai and started whispering amongst themselves, but Kakashi was not able to decipher what they were saying.

Seeing Kakashi slightly distracted, Naruto took the initiative to close into taijutsu range. Without his massive weights slowing him down, Naruto found himself to be much faster. Even with his Sharingan predicting Naruto's every move, Kakashi found it difficult to keep up with the blonde. _'This is just like fighting Gai without all the green and loudness...'_ Mused Kakashi as he failed to block a mule kick from Naruto. Even though he was currently airborne, Kakashi started to form hand seals. As he landed on his feet, he saw the young Kazama was charging at him. Finishing the sequence, Kakashi launched a **Katon: Karyuu Endan** at him. Naruto avoided the massive fire blast with a chakra-reinforced leap.

When he landed, Naruto quickly created a dozen Kage Bunshins. With his Sharingan, Kakashi was able to predict and emulate Naruto's jutsu. The two small armies collided in a fury of fists, feet, kunai, and jutsu. Taking a page from his battle with Aoi, Naruto leapt away from the melee and again launched a **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**, but again Kakashi emulated the jutsu. The two volleys of shuriken tore through the Kage Bunshin horde, but were stopped by the opposing shuriken. Naruto scowled. He was getting a first hand look at one of Konoha's premier kekkai genkai, and he was quite impressed. Still, if Kakashi attempted to match Naruto jutsu-for-jutsu, Naruto would eventually win through sheer attrition, especially with that eye draining the older man's chakra.

Apparently, Kakashi had come to the same conclusion, as he quickly formed his personal jutsu, the **Chidori**. The sound of chirping birds filled the arena. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he watched the silver haired jounin charge at him with electricity flowing through his arm. Although Naruto had no idea what this jutsu was, he decided that he didn't want to get hit by it. Quickly forming a **Rasengan**, Naruto decided to meet the other jounin halfway. When they clashed, the two jutsu competed against each other for dominance, although neither was prevailing. During the stalemate, Naruto got an idea. He started to let his control of the **Rasengan **slip, while using the blinding light of the two jutsu to hide his use of one handed seals. Naruto couldn't perform anything above the simplest of jutsu with only one hand, what for he was preparing to do, it was enough.

Kakashi knew of the **Rasengan** because of the Yondaime, so he was easily able to tell that his opponent was losing control of the jutsu. Kakashi knew that he would have to be careful, so as to not impale his sensei's son when his **Chidori** broke through. A few seconds later, the **Rasengan** finally collapsed. _'Got you!' _He thought viciously.He managed to stop his arm from doing more than grazing Naruto. He thought he had won, until Naruto poofed way, leaving behind only one of the kunai that he had thrown early on. _'Shit! **Kawarimi!**_' Thought Kakashi as he quickly turned to where he knew the weapons to lay. He saw Naruto, or at least he thought he did, as the blonde vanished before his eyes in a flash. At that point, Kakashi knew he had lost as he finally put all the pieces together, and belatedly realized that the kunai that Naruto had used **Kawarimi** on just so happened to have three prongs. _'Heh, so he knows **Hiraishin...**_' Before he even had a chance to turn back to the kunai, he felt a blade pressed against his neck. With no escape available, the copy-nin yielded.

The gathered jounin were stunned. The teen had just defeated one of Konoha's strongest jounin, while using two of the Yondaime's prized jutsu. Team Eight was in awe of their previous sensei's abilities, and even the team from Suna seemed both impressed and slightly scared. _'Who is he? Why does mother fear him?'_ Thought the slightly insane red haired shinobi from Suna.

"Well damn, I just got my ass kicked." Kakashi mused out loud. Still, he didn't really seem fazed by his defeat, as he quickly pulled a familiar orange book from his pouch and started reading, visible eye curved to hint at a happy smile. Seeing this gave Naruto an idea.

"Hey, you said you were the student of my father, right?" Seeing the man nod without pulling his head from his book, he continued. "In that case, you should teach me a jutsu since my arsenal is still quite limited." This caused Kakashi to snort. (although he still didn't look away from his book)

"Oh? And why should I just hand you a powerful jutsu?" He asked with mild curiosity. Naruto smirked. _'Hook, line, and sinker.'_

"Who said anything about giving? I was thinking of a trade." This time Kakashi did look at Naruto as the boy reached into a back pocket. Kakashi was expecting Naruto to pull out many things, but what he saw in the boy's hand was something greater than anything he could have dreamed up.

"Is that... Is that...?" He stuttered out while pointing at the unfamiliar orange book in Naruto's hand.

"Yup! Its Volume Seventeen. Won't hit stores for another two months. I don't know why, but lately Jiraiya has been sending me copies of his stories before they are released. Personally autographed also..." Needless to say, Kakashi was sold. With a vigorous nod of his head, Kakashi took the book and squealed loudly.

"You have a new home now. Kakashi-kun will take good care of you. Aren't you happy to be with Kakashi-kun now?" The assembled group collectively face-faulted into the ground at the sight of one of Konoha's elite jounin cooing at a book. Still, the overjoyed Hatake never noticed.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Team Ten set out early the next day. Although they still had a good four days left in the forest, they knew the longer that they stayed there the bigger the chance of something bad happening. It was still dark out when Shikamaru, who was in the lead, suddenly motioned for a stop.

"Shh.. I see somebody coming. Lets hide and see what we got." He quietly ordered, while motioning to some nearby bushes. The three quickly (but quietly) found suitable hiding spots. A few seconds later, a lone Konoha nin passed by. The trio quickly recognized him as Hyuuga Neji. The three had earlier discussed it, and had decided that they would avoid confrontation with another team from Konoha unless they were attacked or desperate. With that in mind, they planned on letting him pass. That thought lasted until the Hyuuga stopped.

"You can come out now." He stated while turning to the bush that the trio were hiding at. _'Damn Byakugan.'_ All three thought simultaneously as they abandoned their positions. "Hmph. More weaklings." With that, Neji turned away, leaving a very irate Yamanaka Ino.

"Oy! Who do you think you are you bastard? Come back here so I can kick your ass! Naruto didn't put us through that torture just so some pretty boy can taunt us." At this final remark, Neji actually became somewhat interested.

"Hmm.. Kazama is your sensei? He is surprisingly strong. I apologize for underestimating you, and I hope to get a chance to face you in the next exam." With that shocking bit of praise, the Hyuuga walked off, leaving behind a gawking Team Ten.

"Did the super-arrogant Hyuuga Neji just say that he is looking forward to facing us?" Asked Chouji.

"Geez, Naruto is troublesome even when he isn't around.."

About twenty minutes later, Team Ten heard the sounds of battle. Quietly approaching, they were surprised to see Sakura and a strange looking kid wearing green spandex trying to fight off the team from Oto. They could see the other members of Team Seven unconscious in a nearby cave.

"Do we intervene?" Asked Chouji.

"Let's watch the battle for a minute, and try to figure out the Oto-nin's abilities before we jump in. Still, as long as we have the element of surprise this is as good a chance as we are getting to get the scroll that we need..." Answered Shikamaru.

The fight was rather one sided. The green spandex kid used a powerful taijutsu attack on the Oto nin covered in bandages, but his male teammate used some sort of a wind attack from his hands to cushion the fall. The attack seemed to have left the Konoha nin drained, as he quickly fell under the bandaged one's counter attack. The Oto kunoichi grabbed Sakura's long hair, but Sakura got away by cutting it. Using a bunch of **Kawarimis**, Sakura managed to get close to the wind user. With her short advantage, Sakura managed to...bite him, causing the hidden Team Ten to sweatdrop slightly.

"Alright, the guy with the bandages managed to make the bowl-cut kid bleed from his ears with a punch that missed him, so I am guessing that that strange metal thing on his arms emits sound. As long as we stay out of taijutsu range against him, we should be fine. The other dude seems to be the opposite. If somebody can survive those wind attacks and close the gap, they should be able to take him down. The kunoichi hasn't shown her skills yet, but we can work around it." Shikamaru said as he mentally formed a plan of action that would work.

If the three Oto nin had been paying any attention to their surroundings, they might have noticed the shadow that had extended from the nearby bushes before finally connecting with the unsuspecting Kin. Unfortunately for them, they didn't. This made Ino's job of using her **Shintenshin **on the trapped kunoichi much easier._'She uses senbon, perfect.' _'Kin' decided as she quickly took stock of her inventory. With 'Kin' as an ally and Ino's real body out of danger, Shikamaru unleashed the second part of his plan.

Again the shadow extended towards the Oto nin, but this time they did notice. Dosu leapt away back to where 'Kin' was standing at, while Zaku released his hold on Sakura and attempted to follow the shadow back to its origin. Of course all that this led to was him walking right into the path of Chouji, who had been waiting in ambush. Just as Shikamaru surmised, Chouji easily overpowered the Oto nin in close combat. With one powerful punch from the Akimichi, Zaku was out cold. Dosu didn't fair much better. With the shadows still pursuing him he was forced to retreat... right to 'Kin.' With a quick flick of the wrist, Dosu found himself limping heavily with a handful of needles sticking in the back of his knees. Without his speed, he was easily caught by the shadows.

"Kin! What the hell is your problem?" He demanded, while struggling futilely to escape the **Kagemane**.

"We're sorry, but Kin is not available at this moment. If you leave your scroll, you may be allowed to leave without any permanent injuries." 'Kin' cheekily answered. Seeing Zaku out of commission, Dosu knew he had no choice in the matter.

"Fine. It's in my left hand pocket." Since Shikamaru still held the **Kagemane**, 'Kin' was the one to retrieve the scroll. It was the earth scroll that they needed. She threw it to Chouji before finally releasing her **Shintenshin**. Once she was back in her original body, Shikamaru freed Dosu, who grabbed both of his teammates before leaving.

"Ino-pig! What the hell are you doing?" A bruised and battered Sakura demanded to know.

"Just completing this exam, Sakura." Ino replied with a cheeky grin. At about this time, the remaining members of Team Gai appeared, apparently in search of their final teammate. Just as they were about to check on the status of Lee, a massive source of malevolent chakra stopped them. The large group turned to see Sasuke exit the cave. He was covered in strange tattoos and exuding a malicious feeling chakra.

"This power! It's just what I need!" Sasuke crowed with a demonic grin, before turning to the assembled group. When he saw Chouji, who was still holding the earth scroll, his eyes narrowed. "Give me that!" He yelled as he charged the stunned Akimichi with every intention of killing him. Thankfully, he was stopped by Shikamaru's **Kagemane.**

"Damn." Shikamaru muttered, while sweating profusely. "Whatever is empowering him right now is very powerful. I can't hold him for long." He quickly glanced at Neji, who nodded before moving to the barely restrained Uchiha. With a quick series of jabs using jyuuken, Sasuke's chakra flow was canceled out, causing the strange markings to recede. Even without the evil chakra, Sasuke still seemed beyond pissed and was holding a kunai tight, as if contemplating whether to attack the assembled group, even without his chakra. Reason eventually won out, but he never stopped glaring at Neji. Eventually, Team Gai left, leaving only Team's Seven and Ten. Soon enough, Team Ten started to leave also. After the other two left, Ino turned to Sakura before eventually tossing her spare heaven scroll at her.

"Take it, we have an extra." She stated to the confused kunoichi before also departing.

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Naruto scowled a bit at his apparent lack of progress with the jutsu that Kakashi had taught him. Naruto saw the benefits of the **Bunshin Daibakuha, **as itis the perfect jutsu for a close combat specialist who uses clones extensively like he does, but the jutsu itself was proving to be even trickier than the **Hiraishin** to learn. The jutsu was supposed to make his clone explode, yet all he managed to do so far was to make it implode. The Hatake wasn't much help either, as his version of teaching involved spending fifteen minutes giving Naruto the instructions and a few basic tips before quickly leaving to read his new book.

Naruto sighed yet again as he wrapped up his day's training. Although Naruto knew his team could complete the exam at any time and use the scrolls to summon him, he decided to risk a shower since he was covered in sweat. After all, what are the odds that his team would finish within the next half hour?

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

"Hah! We made it!" Proclaimed Ino as Team Ten entered the tower. They encountered no enemies after the incident with the Oto-nin, so it was only mid-afternoon when they reached their destination.

"There's...nothing here?" Chouji questioned as he looked around. Indeed, the room they entered was rather bare.

"I guess we are supposed to open the scrolls." Shikamaru said with a shrug while pulling out the scroll that he carried, with Chouji doing the same with his. After a quick countdown, both genin pulled open their scrolls and threw them to the ground. The area quickly filled with smoke.

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"Oh shit!" A sopping wet and quite naked Naruto yelled as he felt the telltale tug of the summoning scrolls, as he knew the feeling from his **Hiraishin**. Naruto managed to sloppily wrap a towel around his body before teleporting to his team.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

Team Ten was expecting to see many things appear from the smoke when it finally cleared, but the sight of a fully nude soaking wet Kazama Naruto wearing nothing but a small towel was not one of them. His expression was a strange mixture of embarrassment and an angry scowl. Needless to say, the three genin found the picture to be priceless as they all started laughing at his expense. Of course Ino also took this chance to check her sensei out. _'Damn hes hot!' _She thought as she saw his well toned body with a slight blush.

Naruto sighed at his team. "I was supposed to give you some long winded speech about chunin being both smart and strong, but you bastards didn't even give me time to turn the water off in the shower, so I think it will have to wait." With that done, Naruto led his team to their rooms. They passed many other people on the way there, all of whom stared at Naruto. _'Oh kami this is humiliating...' _Although his genin couldn't have known what was going to happen, Naruto still made a point of deciding that some form of payback would be in order. When they finally reached their destination, (and Naruto finally managed to get some clothes on) Naruto to his team with a grin that made the trio's blood run cold. "Since you guys decided to complete the second exam so quickly, I have decided some last minute training shall be in order..."

Three days later, the second exam was over and all the teams that passed found themselves in a large arena. Team Ten was grateful that Naruto let them have the final day off to rest, because he pushed them quite hard. Of course they all felt better than they had in quite some time, as Naruto had instructed them to leave their now considerable weights behind. The sickly proctor of the third exam explained to them assembled crowd that a preliminary round would be in order as to many teams passed the previous exams. He than explained how the third exam would be a series of one on one matches, with the judges deciding who would be worthy of the chunin rank.

When the proctor had finished explaining the exam, the large screen that displayed the match ups started flashing, before finally stopping to display the first match...

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Bubun Baika no Jutsu: **Partial Multi-size Technique

**Katon: Karyuu Endan: **Flame Type: Fire Dragon Blast

**Chidori: **One Thousand Birds

**Bunshin Daibakuha: **Clone Great Explosion


	7. The Preliminaries

The screen finally stopped to reveal the first match.

**Rock Lee vs Akado Yoroi**

"Would Akado Yoroi and cough Rock Lee please stay here. The rest of you please go to the waiting area." The sickly proctor called out.

"Yosh! Time to show the world the power of the flames of youth!" The excited Leaf genin shouted. His older foe did not appear to be amused by the spandex wearing genin's antics.

"Hmph. You should just surrender now. Nobody can stand up to my prized kekkai genkai."

"Ooooh! That makes you a genius! Than I, Rock Lee, shall show you that hard work can overcome a genius!"

Up in the waiting area, Gai was sobbing happily. "Go Lee! Your flames of youth burn brighter than a thousand stars!" Everyone else sweatdropped at the duo's antics. Thankfully, the third examiner had just the solution to the never ending dilemma known as 'shutting up the green beasts.'

"The first battle between Rock Lee and Akado Yoroi...hajime."

Seeing Lee stand there in a loose taijutsu stance, Yoroi took the initiative and charged the younger genin. The assembled crowd watched as Yoroi extended his arm with his hand glowing blue. Although Lee had no idea what it did he figured that it would be a bad idea to actually find out. He easily leapt away from the attack. Deciding that it would be to risky to attempt an attack with the weird glowy-hand thing, Lee concentrated on dodging the older genin's lunges while looking for a possible opening.

_'Geez,' _thought Naruto, _'the guy uses an ability that apparently relies on close proximity to its victim and yet he doesn't appear to have bothered to train his speed or taijutsu any. Lee has this one won.' _Coming to the conclusion that the battle was already over and that it wasn't worth his attention, Naruto started to scan the crowds a bit, before seeing something odd; Uchiha Sasuke was grabbing his shoulder and appeared to be in some pain. What really caught Naruto's interest, however, was when Sasuke removed his hand revealing a strange seal on him. Deciding that he wanted answers, Naruto meandered on over to Kakashi, who was in the unfortunate position of standing next to a very loud Maito Gai.

"That seal on Sasuke's neck, what is it?" Naruto asked. Once he finally figured out the Kazama's question, (no small feat with Gai cheering on his student) the Hatake scowled.

"Orochimaru attacked my team in the forest and put his Cursed Seal on Sasuke." Naruto was not expecting that answer, so it only served to give him more questions. One stuck out predominantly.

"Is it a threat?" He asked. Kakashi contemplated it for a few seconds before finally answering.

"As long as Sasuke doesn't use any jutsu or his Sharingan he should be fine. If he does activate it, I will knock him out before he can cause any harm. Hopefully I can seal it after his match..." He trailed off, presumably in his own thoughts. He was about to start examining the chunin hopefuls again when a loud Maito Gai disrupted his train of thought.

"LEE! TAKE THEM OFF!" He yelled, causing Naruto to turn his attention back to the fight. He apparently hadn't missed much, as Lee had spent most of his time casually avoiding Yoroi's attacks, but not doing any attacking in return. That all changed after Gai's command, as Lee removed his rather substantial weights. Naruto estimated them to be far less than his own, but higher than those that the genin of Team Ten wore.

Without the weights, Lee easily took command of the fight. Yoroi was forced onto the defensive, but Lee quickly managed to get under his guard. Seizing the opportunity, Lee hit Yoroi with a powerful kick, sending him flying into a wall, instantly knocking him out.

After seeing Lee's opponent out for the count, Lee was declared the winner. The exuberant genin and his equally loud sensei both started yelling junk about the flames of youth, but everyone just ignored them. The display started up again, before finally displaying the next match up..

**Kinuta Dosu vs. Inuzuka Kiba**

"Hell yeah! C'mon Akamaru lets go kick this mummies ass!" The brash Inuzuka shouted as he and his partner entered the arena. His foe didn't retaliate as he entered the ring.

"The second fight between Kinuta Dosa and Inuzuka Kiba, hajime!"

While this was happening, Naruto had made his way back to his team. He overheard Shikamaru telling his teammates that Kiba would lose the fight.

"Oh, and why is that?" Inquired Naruto. He knew if Shikamaru said it than he was probably right, but since Naruto had no idea what abilities the Oto-nin possessed, he was curious.

"That Dosu guy we fought him and his team in the second exam. His main abilities revolve around projecting sound from that object on his arms into an object when he punches it. Kiba, being an Inuzuka, has enhanced hearing. Akamaru is the same way. It's the worst possible match for Kiba."

True to form, Kiba's enhanced hearing proved to be a curse instead of a boon in this fight. Right off the bat, Kiba rushed the bandaged shinobi, quickly landing a few blows on the Oto-nin. Dosu attempted to counter, but Kiba easily avoided the sloppy punch... or at least he thought he did. The Inuzuka fell to the ground screaming, while holding his hands over both his ears. The assembled crowds could easily see the blood freely pouring from his ears, hinting at severely ruptured eardrums. Even Akamaru, who had yet to join the fight, was laid low by the high-pitched noise emitted by Dosu.

As the medics carried Kiba and Akamaru off the field of battle, Hayate declared Dosu the victor. The next match was promptly displayed..

**Uchiha Sasuke vs Hyuuga Hinata**

"Ouch." Said Naruto, as the two contestants entered the field of play. "Fighting against a Hyuuga without his Sharingan or his ninjutsu. Sasuke can't win this." As much as Kakashi wanted to stand up for his prized pupil, he knew that Sasuke was fighting a seriously uphill battle here. Despite his well-known dislike for the genin, Naruto actually felt sorry for Sasuke. That was, at least, until the Uchiha started to run his mouth.

"Heh," He said as he stared at the smaller girl facing him, "you should just give up. I won't even need my Sharingan to deal with a weakling like you." The Hyuuga Hinata of a year ago may have let the statement get to her head, causing her to lose confidence in herself before collapsing under her own self hatred, but the Hyuuga Hinata of now gave a different reaction. She merely smirked at the Uchiha, before turning to the proctor who promptly gave the signal to begin.

Although he was arrogant, Sasuke was no idiot. He knew about the Hyuuga's jyuuken. Thus, he decided that avoiding direct confrontation for as long as possible would be the way to go. He saw Hinata activate her Byakugan before charging him. He flung a handful of shuriken in her direction, but she easily dodged them. Sasuke was expecting that however, as he quickly used the brief period of time to prepare another batch of shuriken, which he promptly threw around the Hyuuga Heiress.

Hinata narrowed her eyes slightly as her Byakugan allowed her to see the ninja wire attached to the second volley. Sasuke had prepared it well, as she saw no escape from the attack. She didn't want to have to use one of her trump cards so easily, but she saw little choice in the matter. Just as it looked like the wires had caught her, she went into a **Kaiten** and deflected all the shuriken.

Sasuke cursed under his breath as he saw his shuriken attack deflected so easily. He didn't get a chance to do much else, as Hinata was quickly upon him. Although he didn't really want to be facing the Hyuuga in a taijutsu match, he still felt that with his speed and superior range, he would prevail. Twisting away to avoid a jyuuken-enhanced palm strike from Hinata, Sasuke countered with a series of quick punches in an attempt to not give the girl an opportunity to go on the offensive.

Sasuke stayed on the offensive for a few minutes, but eventually made a costly mistake when he perceived an opening that didn't exist. An attempt at kicking Hinata backfired when she managed to catch his kick, giving her a small window to close some of the tenketsus in Sasuke's leg. The Uchiha attempted to fall back a bit in order to devise a new plan, but that proved to be impossible with his mobility hindered as badly as it was.

Seeing that Sasuke had next to no mobility left in him, Hinata moved into range for her most powerful attack. Once she was ready, she unleashed a **Hakke Rokujuyon Sho**. Sasuke managed to block a few jabs, but the end result was, to say the least, disastrous for the last loyal Uchiha. Sasuke fell to the ground, drained of his chakra.

_'I will not be defeated here! I must get stronger to beat Itachi!'_ Thinking about Itachi led to the normally stoic Sasuke losing control of his emotions, causing him to activate his cursed seal. As the dark power surged through his body, he felt all of his tenketsus reopen as his body surged with chakra. He didn't have long to continue that train of thought, as true to word, Kakashi quickly appeared on the scene and deftly knocked the boy out. Sasuke's last thought before slipping into unconscious was that Konoha was holding him back...

In the waiting area, Orochimaru, disguised as an Oto jounin, was grinning darkly. _'Soon, Sasuke-kun, you shall be mine_.' The crew from Konoha had different reactions. Kakashi had a look of disappointment on his face, as he took Sasuke away to seal the cursed mark, while the rest of the jounin, along with the Hokage, had similar looks of worry. The genin who weren't there to see the evil chakra emitted in the forest of death were both confused and slightly afraid at the evil looking chakra that Sasuke had unleashed.

The sickly proctor was eventually roused from his stupor and declared Hinata the winner. The fourth match was soon displayed.

**Sabaku no Gaara vs Mitorushu Ryo**

The fourth match proved to be the quickest, most one sided, and bloodiest match of them all, all at the same time. The battle lasted as long as it took for Gaara to entrap and crush Ryo with his sand. Naruto stared briefly at the Suna nin. Something about him seemed almost...familiar. Naruto had a hunch as to what this may be, but he needed confirmation first. Right after the fourth match, Kakashi made his return.

"So... did I miss anything?"

"Not really. Your student got killed by that Gaara person." Gai said with a slight shrug. None of the assembled shinobi from Konoha knew why, but the death of a fellow comrade in Ryo didn't affect any of them. It was almost as if they all knew that he was a nobody who was meant to die, or something. After quickly cleaning up the blood-splattered arena a bit, the screen displayed the fifth match.

**Sabaku no Kankuro vs Tsuchi Kin**

As the two foreign shinobi made their way to the battle, Naruto made his way back to his team. Seeing that nobody in the immediate area was even remotely interested in the current match, he decided to regale the crowds with tales of one of his more ingenious pranks unleashed on the Hokage. (While failing to mention how it failed spectacularly, of course) While most of the crowd listened in slight amusement, a certain Hyuuga was having his own internal debate. It is a well known fact that advanced Hyuuga are trained to read a person's emotion, so its no surprise that Neji was able to notice the little details about Naruto's stance and attitude. Something about the Kazama jounin pissed him off. Naruto was obviously a genius, that much anybody could tell. The thing is... he didn't carry himself like a genius, instead acting more like a dropout, like Lee. Neji found it to be a bit disgusting, actually.

"Why do you act so stupid about everything?" He yelled at the young jounin. Seeing the questioning look, he continued. "You are a prodigy, yet you act so...wrong. Has being the son of the Yondaime made you so spoiled that you fail to see the world for what it really is?" The Hyuuga spat the last part out. Naruto snorted lightly.

"You have no idea what my life has been like, so I would advise you not to go there."

"Just because your father was killed by the Kyuubi doesn't mean you are special. How would you like to have to live with your father's killers?!" Neji yelled, while shooting a glare at Hinata. This caused Naruto to laugh. This seemed to infuriate Neji even further. "What the hell is so funny?" He demanded.

"It's just the fact that you are so utterly wrong that it is funny. Let me tell you a story, Hyuuga Neji, about what really happened the night the Kyuubi attacked." Naturally, that last piece caught everybody's attention. The elder generation knew what was coming, but made no attempt at stopping Naruto. It was, after all, his S-rank law to break. Naruto shot a quick glance in the direction of Gaara. While the Suna shinobi was not paying attention to the conversation, he was close enough to overhear things of interest.

"All the stories claim that my father managed to kill the fox at the cost of his own life. That is mostly the truth. The only real flaw is with what happened to the demon itself. Didn't any of you find it a bit odd that the Yondaime alone did what the entire combined shinobi populace of Konoha couldn't do? Nobody else could even slow it down! As powerful as he was, it seems a bit far-fetched that he could kill the mighty Kyuubi, doesn't it?"

To those who didn't yet know the full story, Naruto's words caused a great deal of confusion. Seeing the confusion being replaced by curiosity as some of the genin glanced at their jounin instructors just to see the grim looks being sported by all of them, (although Kakashi was a bit trickier to read with the mask) Naruto decided to continue. "The simple truth of the matter is that something that powerful can't actually be killed. The only feasible option was to seal the beast. Not many things out there can hold a power of that magnitude. As a matter of fact, from what the Sandaime once told me, the only thing they could find strong enough to handle the burden was a newborn human." Here, Naruto paused as he turned back to the Hyuuga genius. "You mentioned living with the one who killed your father. I too know the feeling, as sealed inside of me is the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

At that final statement, a wide-eyed Gaara turned to the blond so quickly that Naruto was somewhat surprised he didn't break his neck. _'I knew it!' _crowed Naruto, glad that his suspicions had been confirmed. It was a bit relieving to know that another jinchuuriki was around, even if he was a raging psychopath. The Leaf genin (besides his own team who already knew) were all staring at the jounin with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

"The reason I am so...cheerful," Naruto continued, with a bit of sarcasm applied to the 'cheerful,' "is because it beats the hell out of the alternatives. The Kyuubi was so powerful that all the other ninjas were powerless to stop it as it wrecked their homes and killed their friends. That feeling of helplessness eventually turned to rage, but without the original target, they were forced to take their frustrations out on somebody else. Namely, me. Do you know what it feels like to be a six year old child living on your own while living with the animosity of the entire village? It was in those days that I came across a mental crossroads, if you will. I could have given in to the constant hate, and become the very thing that they saw me as, or I could rise above the hate, and show the world that I am someone worthy of their recognition.

Obviously I took the latter path. It was a hard life, but I persevered. Till finally, one perverted old man" here he shot a quick glance at the Hokage, which nobody missed, "saw my inner strength and gave me a means of accomplishing my goal. It was during those days that I learned about the demon inside of me. That was the turning point in my life, I think, as that was when I could finally understand why most people hated me. Knowing that makes it easier for me to forgive them, while also strengthening my resolve to prove to the world that I am no demon fox. It is finally happening, too. While most of the civilian populace still views me with distrust, I have found acceptance amongst the shinobi populace of Konoha. Perhaps my story will help you out. Show the world that you are Hyuuga Neji, not a bitter member of the Hyuuga branch family, but a proud shinobi in the services of Konohagure."

With his long speech finally finished, Naruto looked around to see that every listener was gawking at him, wearing similar expressions of stunned awe. Even to those who knew the truth were stunned, not really knowing just how bad Naruto had it. For those who didn't know the truth, it was almost to much to believe. For the genin who learned from him in the academy, it was a real eye-opener. They had all spent a lot of time with him, but none could have possibly guessed the hell that their instructor had gone through from the way he carried himself.

The other genin had similar thoughts, with a few slight exceptions. Gaara had a look on his face that made Naruto know he would soon be having a private conversation with the other jinchuuriki. Neji looked like he was slowly coming to the not-so stunning realization that he was an ass. Lee saw Naruto's successes in life as a sign that true hard work can indeed surpass all. Tenten was quickly growing to admire the one who had been dealt an even worse hand in life than her, and yet was able to become one of the strongest jounin in Konoha so quickly.

After a few minutes, Naruto glanced down in the arena to see the proctor and the victorious sand-nin staring at him with looks similar to the rest. Apparently the match had ended a while ago. _'At least the medic-nin had enough common sense to take care of the loser.' _ he thought in annoyance. He shot the proctor a dark glare, which seemed to rouse him from his stupor. After coughing a few times to get everybody's attention, (or was it just because he was a rather sick man?) the screen finally displayed the next match.

**Akimichi Chouji vs Tsurugi Misumi**

"Finally!" Exclaimed Naruto, as the two battlers made their way down, "Time for my team to start showing the world that they are the strongest brats in the building!" Most everyone sweatdropped a bit at that statement, while the members of Team Ten privately wondered if they should take that statement as a compliment or an insult. When both fighters were ready, the proctor gave the signal to begin.

Misumi quickly charged the young Akimichi, intending to end the match as quickly as possible. Chouji responded by falling into a defensive taijutsu stance. "That won't do you any good!" Shouted the older Leaf genin as he put on a quick burst of speed and quickly got behind Chouji. What happened next was a bit surprising, as Misumi defied all laws of human anatomy and wrapped himself around his larger foe. "I have you now! Surrender before I snap your neck!" He proclaimed in triumph.

Up in the viewing area, the remaining members of Team Ten all burst into laughter. Everyone else looked at the three like they were slightly insane. "That idiot!" Naruto proclaimed. "You can't beat an Akimichi that way!"

Sure enough, Misumi found himself in a lot of trouble when the person he had wrapped himself around grew into a twenty-foot behemoth courtesy of a **Baika no Jutsu.** With his foe unwrapped because of his sudden increase in girth, Chouji had little problem in removing the smaller genin from his body. With a quick wind-up, Chouji threw his foe into a wall. Now while most shinobi are trained to deal with heavy impacts, being thrown by a giant into a wall made of stone is a bit more than the human body can be trained to withstand. _'Good thing he didn't have any bones to break.'_ Mused Naruto as he watched the vanquished nin collapse into a heap after hitting the wall. Chouji was quickly declared the winner. After a brief bit of congratulations from his teammates, (along with a short speech from Naruto claiming that the other two need to also win or he may never forgive them) the next match was displayed.

**Aburame Shino vs Hyuuga Neji**

"This should be interesting..." Said Naruto as he watched the two make their way into the arena. Seeing some questioning looks being shot his way, he elaborated. "In terms of raw skill and experience, Neji is obviously the superior, but the Aburame family jutsu are some of the few that the Hyuuga actually fear. I have absolutely no idea how this battle will turn out." Hinata nodded agreement emphatically, knowing just how tricky it is when sparring her teammate. The others saw the merit in his words, and all turned their attentions back to the fight, so as to not miss anything.

Neji considered using a few words to hopefully demoralize his foe a bit, but Naruto's story still rang in his head, so he decided against it. Instead he merely waited for the fight to start, and promptly activated his **Byakugan.** Neither combatant moved at first, as each stared the other down, expressions blank. After a few minutes, it was Neji who made the first move, charging the stoic Aburame in a basic jyuuken stance. Shino meanwhile, was currently releasing a large cloud of kikai from his body, headed in the general direction of the Hyuuga genius.

Reacting quickly, Neji unleashed a **Hakke Kusho** on the incoming insect horde, effectively killing or incapacitating most of the insects. A few of the surviving kikai managed to latch unto him as he continued past, although the number was small enough that Neji didn't need to face the threat immediately. Instead he charged the stationary Aburame, intent on taking him out before he got the chance to summon forth more insects. Finally closing the distance, Neji dodged a high hook from his foe, and quickly unleashed a potent jyuuken strike into Shino's chest. It probably would have ended the fight, if not for the fact that he had hit a **Kikai Bunshin**.

_'Kuso! How could I have been so careless?'_ Neji thought, as the clone exploded into a horde of bugs that all landed on the Hyuuga. Even with his **Byakugan** activated, the difference between the real Shino and the **Kikai Bunshin** were pretty hard to notice, since both were filled with bugs. Shaking off those thoughts, Neji quickly eliminated the swarming bugs with his **Kaiten**.

It was then that Neji noticed the predicament that he was in. While he had been dealing with the clone, Shino had apparently unleashed more bugs and had them surround Neji, forming a rather large spiral with him in the middle, as to prevent him from killing them all with a single **Kaiten**. _'I don't have enough chakra to keep this up. I need to take him out now!'_

Throwing caution to the wind, Neji unleashed a full out charge on the Aburame, ignoring the kikai bugs that were latching onto him. Judging from the slight widening of Shino's eyes, (only really noticeable because of Neji's kekkai genkai) this brash action from the normally controlled Hyuuga surprised him immensely. Indeed, he was so stunned, that he failed to get away in time to prevent Neji from unleashing a series of powerful jyuuken strikes on him. As the final blow hit, Shino fell like a puppet with its strings cut. Neji smirked slightly at his victory, before succumbing to chakra exhaustion. Neither genin got up.

"Eeer... neither fighter is able to continue, so the fight ends in a draw." The proctor said after a minute with a slight shrug. As a group of medic-nin took the two unconscious fighters, the screen displayed the eighth match.

**Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino**

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding in, as this match up assured that his two remaining students would not be forced to fight each other. The two kunoichi made their way down to the arena.

"Ready to lose Ino-pig?" Sakura sneered. Ino didn't reply. Instead, she was to busy looking at Sakura's very flawed taijutsu stance, while attempting to repress a shudder while thinking about how close she had been to becoming an obsessed fan-girl. If it wasn't for some blonde idiot who would constantly insult her and her friends, practically forcing her to go beyond human limits just so she could wipe that smug look off his face, (which she had still yet to do) she may have stayed on the dark path of an obsessed stalker.

Seeing the two fighters ready for battle, the proctor gave the nod to begin. Sakura went into a wild charge, causing Ino to blink. _'I am faster than that even with these weights and that stance is so weak. This is pathetic!'_ Ino decided that the best way to help her former-friend would be to humiliate her as quickly as possible. Easily side-stepping the pink-haired girls clumsy charge, Ino easily felled her foe with a low sweeping kick. Before Sakura even had a chance to pull herself off the ground, she found a kunai at her neck.

"Surrender?" Seeing no way out of the situation, Sakura reluctantly nodded. She couldn't believe how badly she had just been beaten by her 'rival.' Once the proctor declared the match over, Ino pulled away the kunai and started to walk back to the waiting area. About halfway there, she stopped and turned back to Sakura. "You may not want to hear it," she started, in a voice low enough that only Sakura could hear, "but you are really weak. Still, its not to late to change. Who knows Forehead, I might even be willing to help you, if you ask." With that said, Ino left, leaving a confused kunoichi to ponder her words.

Up in the stands, Naruto was impressed at the way his team was currently dismantling all opposition without revealing any of their advanced abilities, even if their foes had been rather weak. _'Still,'_ he thought as he shot Shikamaru a dark glance, (which he seemed oblivious to, as he was currently trying to fall asleep) _'He is most likely to botch it up. Kinda funny too, since hes most qualified for Chunin.'_ Naruto decided that a bit of motivation would help the young Nara when the time came. The second to last match was displayed.

**Sabaku no Temari vs Ama Tenten**

The two kunoichi quickly made their way to the battling area. With a quick nod and a cough from the proctor, the battle began.

"Heh, you leaf ninja are all weak. You should just give up now, little girl." Said Temari with a sneer, as she pulled her fan off her back. Tenten's eye twitched in annoyance at the taunt. Instead of responding verbally, she responded with a handful of shuriken. With a small flick of the wrist, Temari's fan partially opened. After that all it took was a quick wave of the arm for the fan to generate enough winds to blow away all of the projectile weapons. "See? Its fruitless. How about this: I will give you until my fan is fully opened, but after that, I will end this match. So you have two more tries." Said the kunoichi from Suna.

With a small growl, Tenten unleashed a double-fistful of shuriken, and followed it up with a small volley of kunai with exploding notes attached. Again it proved useless, as the wind-mistress was easily able to deflect the barrage with her fan, while opening it even more. _'Kuso! That fan is annoying.'_ Tenten thought in irritation, _'I could attempt to overwhelm her with my **Soshoryu**, but I don't know what her fan's limits are... Maybe I can...thats it!' _

With a plan in mind, Tenten reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a trio of smoke bombs, which she threw in the direction of Temari. "Thats not going to work!" Shouted Temari, as she unleashed a massive gust of wind, blowing all the smoke away. She waited with bated breath as she watched the area that the smoke previously was covering, while looking for the weapon-mistress. When the area was fully cleared, it revealed...nothing. It was when she heard a noise from behind her that Temari noticed the predicament that she was in. She quickly spun around with her fan, in hopes of catching Tenten unawares.

Said Leaf-nin was grinning at the success of her plans. She had used the smoke bombs as a decoy, accurately guessing that Temari would be to busy attacking the smoke to notice her going around it until it was to late. Seeing Temari swing her fan as a makeshift melee weapon, Tenten quickly focused her chakra onto a very familiar seal, while mentally thanking Naruto for teaching her how to create it. With a loud pop, she summoned a sword into her hands. A quiet murmur went through the assembled crowds as they realized that it wasn't just any blade, but the Nidaime's fabled Raijin.

Electric sword met metal fan, and the results were rather one-sided. Although Tenten made sure to pull back the blade after only a few minutes, as to not kill her foe, the high voltage was more than enough to knock Temari out of the fight for good. After being declared the victor, she resealed the Raijin, and made her way to the stands, where a lot of people were staring at her with questioning looks.

"I see you are making good use of the sword I gave you." Said Naruto with a brief smirk, as he came to the girls aid. Tenten nodded enthusiastically as everyone else turned to stare at the blond jounin.

"Wait... It was you who gave her that sword?!" Screeched Ino, incredulously. Seeing no way out of the potentially dangerous situation, Naruto hastily explained the mission that led to his promotion to jounin. Hearing his explanation, Ino decided that it would be better to wait for a more private moment before giving her sensei a piece of her mind about giving away powerful weapons when he should be saving them for his future genin team, and instead opted for glaring at the older kunoichi, who was currently sticking her tongue out in Ino's general direction. Even though it was unnecessary, the screen decided to display the final match at that moment.

**Nara Shikamaru vs Abumi Zaku**

In an attempt to divert the mounting tension, Naruto called out to his final student, "Oy Shika. You better not lose this match or I will double your weights." That, coupled with the very sadistic grin that Naruto was sporting, caused Shikamaru to shiver.

"Hell yeah! You better not embarrass our team you lazy bastard, or I will be the one to kick your ass!" Naturally, this came from Ino. Muttering something about 'troublesome blondes,' Shikamaru made his way to the arena.

"Heh, now I can get revenge for that forest incident!" Said the Oto-nin with a smug grin. Shikamaru merely sighed.

"Tch. This battle is troublesome, but it would be far more troublesome if I lost." He replied, as he shot a quick glance up to where Naruto and Ino were standing. Reflecting on the battle in the forest, Shikamaru quickly pieced together a simple plan.

Once the battle began, Shikamaru hastily retreated out of the effective range of Zaku's air cannons, before quickly creating a pair of Kage Bunshins. Sending both of them after Zaku from different directions, Shikamaru unleashed his **Kagemane**, forming two shadows, while managing to keep the tendrils hidden from the Oto-nin by having them trail slightly behind the charging Kage Bunshins.

"Hah! That's not going to work!" Shouted Zaku as he prepared to unleash his **Zankuha** on one of the Kage Bunshins. Seeing him go stationary for his air attack, Shikamaru quickly sprung his trap. It wasn't till after he had destroyed the first Kage Bunshin that Zaku noticed the shadow tendrils, and by that time it was to late, as the shadow quickly latched itself onto him.

"Grr..." growled Zaku, "even if you have me with your stupid jutsu, you still can't do anything to me without your teammates around!" At this comment, Shikamaru cracked a small smirk.

"I think you forgot about something." He drawled out, as he turned his head, forcing Zaku to imitate, to his remaining Kage Bunshin, who was currently approaching the Oto shinobi with a kunai drawn. "You may want to surrender." Instead of complying, Zaku started to struggle even harder, but to no avail. Wanting to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, the proctor called the match in the Nara's favor.

With the battles finished, the Sandaime Hokage told the victors to assemble themselves in the arena in order to figure out the match ups for the finals, which were to be held in a month. When all was finished, the finals were as follows:

Rock Lee

vs

Hyuuga Hinata

Akimichi Chouji

vs

Sabaku no Kankuro

Yamanaka Ino

vs

Ama Tenten

Kinuta Dosa

vs

Sabaku no Gaara

With a very happy Nara Shikamaru getting a bye to the second round.

With that, the crowd was dismissed to prepare for the finals.

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Hakke Rokujuyon Sho: **Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms

**Hakke Kusho: **Eight Trigrams Empty Palm

**Soshoryu: **Twin Rising Dragons

**Zankuha: **Decapitating Air Waves

A/N: Ahhh, I am so sorry for the massive delay. I wrote half of this chapter way back in November, but I started to suffer writer's block, and decided to take a week off. After that I kinda...forgot about my story a bit. I still haven't quite gotten over my writer's block fully, but I finally managed to finish this chapter, even if I had to rush it a bit, So yeah, I am really really sorry.

In order to get my focus back, I may start another story so I will have two to work with, which should lead to a bit more focus. So this story might not get updated quite as frequently as it had in the past (although it should be faster than the two months per chapter rate that this last one took...)


	8. The Finals

The next morning came all to quickly for Naruto. As much as he wanted to take the day off and sleep in, he knew that he would have to spend extra time helping his team train since all three of them were in the finals, (something he planned on constantly reminding the other jounin instructors) not to mention the fact that the Hokage, in his infinite wisdom, had decided to send the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio on a long term spying mission, so training with family jutsu was out of the question for the genin. Because of this, Naruto settled for cursing at the sun for being to bright as he pulled himself out of bed while mentally wondering how far he could push his team before they keeled over and died from the grievous wounds he intended to inflict upon them. With really sadistic thoughts going through his mind, Naruto started his day.

Three hours later, Naruto found himself grinning at the three exhausted genin in front of him. Although they seemed on the verge of collapsing, he could easily see the determination in the three to continue , even as their bodies protested. Ino seemed even more pushy than normal, in her drive to beat Tenten, although Naruto had absolutely no clue why. Chouji wasn't nearly as enthused, but his easy victory over a much older foe in the preliminaries seemed to make him realize just how far he had improved in such a short time in Team Ten, and that was something that made him determined to continue. As for Shikamaru... he probably would have complained, but the near certainty that he would be facing Sabaku no Gaara seemed to be all the motivation that he needed. "Dying is to troublesome." He would later admit. Naruto was just about to start in on some lighter training for his team when he was delivered a message from the Hokage, delivered via carrier bird.

_Naruto,_

_My wayward student (the perverted one, not the drunk or the snake) is back in town on business, and has requested that you meet up with him as soon as possible. You should know where to find him._

_-Ojiisan_

Naruto grinned despite himself. No matter what changes occurred, he would always see the old Hokage as his ojiisan. Deciding that now was as good a time as any to see his sensei of one week, Naruto prepared to depart to where he figured the self-proclaimed 'super pervert' would be.

"Alright guys, the Hokage has summoned me to a meeting. No clue when I get back," Here Naruto went into a thinking pose for a minute, before finally changing it back to his all to common 'sadistic instructor' face, "but since you guys are such wonderfully dedicated students, I have an idea of how to keep your training going full speed." Quickly biting his thumb, Naruto formed a set of hand seals, before finally slamming his palm into the ground.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" **He yelled. The three genin shakily pulled themselves off the ground to see just what he was doing. When the smoke finally cleared, they adopted looks conveying extreme horror. Than again, could you blame them when they found themselves facing an armored toad the size of a small house?

"Ok guys have fun!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he turned to leave. "Oh right," he said, stopping himself and turning to the large frog, "don't kill them." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the trio of terrified genin alone with a very mean toad that appeared to be smirking evilly (although it is a bit hard to discern a frog's facial expressions) as he launched himself at them.

As the venerable Hokage had predicted, Naruto easily found the Toad-Sennin in the most obvious peeking location at Konoha's largest bathhouse. He briefly considered announcing his presence loudly, as to alert Jiraiya's location to the girls in the bath, but eventually decided that his genin team's mortality rate was high enough as it is, and didn't really need any added delays. Thus, he simply launched a bunch of senbon aimed at some painful locations in the direction of the man. Ninja senses kicking in, Jiraiya deftly leapt out of the way of the attack while turning to retaliate, but stopped once he saw the identity of his attacker.

"Feh, stupid gaki. Thats no way to interrupt a man in the middle of precious research." Scolded the elder man as he abandoned his position and approached Naruto.

"Would you rather I ran up to you and yell out some stupid greeting? What is more dangerous? A shinobi attack, or a horde of enraged females, including at least a handful of kunoichi." Naruto retorted.

"Hmm... You are wise beyond your years! You have proven to me that I indeed made the correct decision!" Seeing Naruto's confusion, the Toad-Sennin answered the unasked question. "I have decided to accept you as my apprentice!"

"Thats nice and all, but I am already a jounin. Jounin aren't apprentices. Hell, I am probably already pretty close to you in strength." Instead of going off about his own superiority, like Naruto was expecting, Jiraiya merely grinned, before holding up a finger in a lecturing gesture.

"That may be so, but do you honestly think the legendary three sannin got our ranks just by being excellent shinobi? Each sannin is known for unrivaled knowledge in a certain field of ability. Take Tsunade-hime for example, her abilities as a medic-nin are unrivaled, not only in Konoha, but in all of the entire Elemental Countries. Orochimaru-teme is only rivaled in his knowledge of jutsu by Sarutobi-sensei. As for me, I am one of the world's premiere experts on seals. If I were to die right now, Konoha would be without a capable seal master. Even the teme, who believes himself immortal, had an apprentice at one point in time. Every sannin has found an apprentice to pass down his or her talents. My original apprentice was the one who put that seal on your chest. Since hes dead, however, I need a new apprentice before I can finally retire, and guess what? I choose you!"

Naruto stared at the elder man for a minute. That actually made a great deal of sense. While he was already considered one of the strongest jounin in the village, he really lacked any skill that made himself unique, except for a few high profile ninjutsu. Although Naruto had ignored the idea for a while, instead focusing more on the here and now, he still aspired to live in his fathers footsteps as Hokage. Becoming a seal master would bring him closer to that dream.

"Well, I guess that makes sense." He finally admitted. "And normally I would accept, except I have a genin team to train, and I doubt that toad I left them with is a very effective training tool..." Jiraiya quickly waved off his concerns.

"Ah, thats alright. For the most part, learning about seals is just learning about each each seal, ways to combine them into making bigger seals, and knowing which seal to use in any given situation. Just send one of those Kage Bunshins that you love so much while you train your brats. I am curious though, which frog did you leave them with?" After Naruto described the toad, Jiraiya grinned, "You do know that that particular frog likes to go into a rather dangerous berserker state when it gets hurt, right?" At hearing that, Naruto's eyes widened to inhuman sizes.

"Oh shit..."

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

The next month went pretty standard for the four members of Team Ten. After three days in the hospital recovering from near fatal amphibian related injuries, the three genin went back to the same rigorous training routine that Naruto would always impose upon them, albeit with a massive increase in evil glares and focused killing intent directed at the young frog summoner. While he knew there was a good chance his students would lose, as the finals held many exceptional genin, he knew they were more than capable of holding the rank of chunin. (Of course in his opinion chunin are just genin with a little intelligence and one or two decent jutsu, something most of them had when they left the academy) During the few off-days that Naruto allowed, Ino would often be seen acting as a sensei for Sakura. Privately, Naruto was glad that the pink-haired kunoichi had swallowed her pride enough to seek help. Konoha needed exceptional shinobi, and Sakura had the potential to be very skilled with genjutsu and medical jutsu. For Naruto, the weeks were spent in a similar way, although he also managed to learn the basics of sealing from Jiraiya, while also managing to work on perfecting his newer jutsu which he was close to mastering.

During one of those lessons with Jiraiya, the Toad Hermit informed his protege of what he had been doing the past year or so, besides writing new volumes of his perverted series. Apparently, he had been tracking the mysterious group that was known to be hunting down the jinchuuriki. Although he had little info on the members of the group, he had managed to learn enough about the organization to know the strength of the average member, (brutally strong) along with the size of the packs that they traveled in (two). More importantly to Naruto, he was also able to provide a name: Akatsuki. Although he didn't know much more than that, Jiraiya admitted one of the reason's for teaching Naruto was to prepare him for the trials to come, knowing that Akatsuki was just about to start hunting the bijuu, and that it was common knowledge that Naruto carried one.

Finally, the day of the chunin exam arrived. Being a jounin, Naruto was required to go to the arena a few hours ahead of time. Naruto managed to catch snippets of random conversations going on amongst the assembled jounin as they prepared the arena for the expected crowds, including a rather unsettling rumor to the fate of the proctor of the preliminaries. Naruto found the idea of a Leaf jounin being murdered in Konoha to be a bit suspicious, to say the least. It was then that Naruto felt a presence behind him. The killing intent being emanated by the person, while feeling unfocused, was strong enough to put Naruto on guard as he turned. He was not surprised to see that the person was the young Suna jinchuuriki, Sabaku no Gaara.

"Those words you spoke back then... how true were they?" Gaara asked, with a quiet voice that hinted at barely controlled madness.

"Every single word I said was truth." Naruto stated plainly. He was not going to pass up this opportunity to help out a fellow jinchuuriki, especially with the threat of Akatsuki looming on the horizon.

"How? How were you able to endure the constant pain? How can you do it when it hurts so much!!!" Gaara yelled the last part out, causing a few nearby shinobi to turn to the two, before quickly going back to their own business.

Naruto smiled sadly, "It is hard, I know. The only way to endure is to believe in a better tomorrow. If you give up hope, you are better off dead."

Judging by the intense look in Gaara's eyes, Naruto could tell that he was listening intently to his words, but judging by the swirling mass of sand, he was still angry and unconvinced. "Why must we suffer? Why do you not make them feel our pain?" The red-haired shinobi asked through clenched teeth.

Naruto sighed. "If not us, than who? In order to stop the cycle of hate, we must rise above it. It isn't easy, but once you can show the world that you aren't the monster that they see you as, things will get better."

Gaara was quiet for a few minutes. "And... they accept you?" Although it was phrased as a question it was more of a statement. The Kyuubi container nodded confirmation, "What about the voices?"

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Uhh... what voices?" He mentally scolded himself for sounding like a moron after giving such an inspiring speech, but he had absolutely no idea what Gaara was talking about.

"The voices. Always telling me to kill and when I sleep 'it' takes over my body."

A look of understanding appeared on Naruto's face. "I see... can I see the seal that holds your beast?" He asked. Gaara looked confused for a moment, before nodding and showing Naruto his seal. Seeing it, Naruto scowled darkly, "Whoever sealed the bijuu into you did a really poor job of it. My knowledge of seals is limited, but even I can tell the inadequacies of this seal. Although I don't think I can help you with it," Gaara looked crestfallen at that revelation, but Naruto paid him no mind, "my sensei should be able to reinforce it to properly contain the creature. I will warn you though, if we do get the seal fixed, you may lose some of your control with sand." Gaara nodded without hesitation with a look of hope that seemed out of place on him. Naruto grinned, "Alright. Come see me after these exams are over. Oh, and don't kill my students when you guys fight."

With the conversation concluded, Gaara returned to his siblings, with a small smile on his face. His teammates initially cringed, before realizing it wasn't the homicidal grin that he usually wore, but a true smile that reached his eyes. "Temari, Kankuro, whatever happens, do not participate in this foolish invasion, or I will kill you myself." His two siblings looked confused, but quickly decided that disobeying their Kage and village is less dangerous than disobeying their little brother, so both quickly nodded assent.

It was a few hours later when all the participants had arrived and the finals were slated to begin. The jounin scanned the area. In the Kage booth, Naruto saw the Hokage, along with another man who he assumed was the Kazekage, based on the kanji for 'wind' on his robe. In the VIP section Naruto noticed a large smattering of important civilians, including the Daiymo of Fire Country. The stadium itself was filled to the brink with both shinobi and civilians. With a well trained eye he was able to pick out two squads of ANBU members stationed in the area for security. _'Thats odd, for an event of this magnitude there should be at least double that...'_ He pondered the security for a few seconds, but didn't pay much heed to it as the replacement proctor decided that that was the perfect time to start the test. The man was garbed in standard jounin ware, but was chewing on a senbon needle.

"Alright, I am the proctor of these final exams. The rules are the same as in the preliminaries, but please refrain from killing," here he shot a pointed glance at Gaara, "as the spectators would rather not wait for us to clean up somebody's mess. Oh, and because of an unfortunate...accident, Kinuta Dosa is unable to compete in the finals, therefore the final match of round one will be Sabaku no Gaara and Nara Shikamaru." Said Leaf genin groaned loudly in protest, but the proctor ignored it. "The first match will be between Rock Lee and Hyuuga Hinata."

The two combatants made their way down to the arena. The crowd buzzed excitedly in anticipation of the match. Although there was strong disappointment that the last Uchiha had failed to make the finals, the heiress of the proud Hyuuga clan fighting in the finals made up for it, somewhat. Surprisingly, Naruto found himself seated near somebody he knew.

"Hey Neji," he yelled to the Hyuuga prodigy, who was just a few seats away, "how do you see this match playing out?" If anyone knew what to expect, it would be Neji, seeing as how he is both related to Hinata and on Lee's team.

Neji frowned slightly, "I am actually not quite sure what to expect. If Lee goes all out, even I have difficulties in beating him," '_Although I always do,' _he quickly thought, "but he often refuses to show his true strength, and I have no idea if he will or not in his match against Hinata-_sama_." Neji uttered the last suffix hesitantly, as if he was unused to saying it. That much was true, actually. After returning to the Hyuuga compound following the finish of the preliminaries, Neji had barricaded himself in his quarters to contemplate the days events. When the current clan head, Hyuuga Hiashi, had asked about it, Hinata had told the stern man of the events that had transpired. Seeing that the opportunity was right, Hiashi had given Neji a scroll, written by his father, claiming that his death wasn't an act of fate, but an act of defiance against fate. This led to Neji coming to the conclusion that the hate he had held for the Hyuuga main family was misplaced. Of course its not easy to change yourself when you realize you have been living a lie, as Neji was finding out. Still, he was trying.

"Why wouldn't he show his true ability? Isn't this," here Naruto swept a hand to indicate the large assembly, "what he has been training for?"

Neji shrugged slightly, "The best I can explain it... he has his own form of chivalry." Now Naruto was really confused, and apparently it showed as Neji decided to tack on the one thing that will explain it all, "It's a Gai thing."

"Ah. That still makes no sense, but than again, Gai has never struck me as the sensible type, so I guess I can understand it. At least we can't hear his preachings about the 'Flames of Youth' over this crowd." In the ultimate twist of irony, right after Naruto spoke those words the booming voice of Maito Gai cut through the collective noise of the entire stadium like a hot knife through butter. Naruto cringed slightly as Neji turned a fierce Hyuuga glare on him, "Than again, I have been wrong before..."

Down in the arena, a very enthused Lee (having been reinforced by Gai-sensei's charismatic speech, of course) was attempting to converse with his foe. "Salutations, cousin of my eternal rival! I hope you are ready to let the flames of your youth blossom into a most spectacular display of youthful combat!"

"Uh?" Not exactly the response fitting a Hyuuga, but it was the best that Hinata could come up with. Between her father, Iruka, Naruto, and Kurenai, Hinata had learned a lot over the years, but nothing they taught her seemed to be of much help in a battle against somebody who may in fact be a raving lunatic. She shot a quick glance to her father, who was in the stands with her little sister Hanabi. The mortified look on the normally impassive Hiashi was enough to tell Hinata that he was just as alarmed at this confrontation as she was. Still, she was a Hyuuga, and wouldn't let such... unique distractions to affect her battle performance.

Based on a few hints that Neji had dropped about his unique teammate, alongside her own observations, Hinata came to one conclusion about the genin known as Rock Lee. _'He's fast!'_ In this situation for the young Hyuuga, the best offense was a strong defense. If she could just manage to inflict a glancing blow on a leg than he would be quite vulnerable. Still, even with her Byakugan active, it would be no small feat...

Despite outward appearances hinting at the contrary, Rock Lee was no dummy. After countless spars against his teammate, Lee had a very extensive knowledge of the Byakugan and the Hyuuga jyuuken style. If Hinata were anything like Neji than she would probably rely on counter-attacks hoping to disable him before he can pummel her into submission. Still, in a battle between two pure taijutsu fighters, its not like he had much alternative. He could, however, minimize risk by relying more on feints and hit and run tactics, placing a heavier emphasis on evasion...

With a loud battle cry, (something about the flames of youth) Lee charged forth. Just as he was about to enter Hinata's taijutsu range he instead swerved off to the left side before unleashing a punishing roundhouse kick. Even though her eyes could clearly follow the spandex-clad genin's moves, her body felt sluggish and unresponsive when it came to dodging his furious strikes. Still, she managed to pull it off...barely. By the time she had recovered from the attack and was poised to launch a counter offensive Lee had already moved out of combat range. Letting out a small growl, (completely unfit for the future head of the Hyuuga) Hinata had to struggle slightly to keep her feeling of annoyance from causing her to do something rash. _'Although he made me look silly in that first strike, it had to have taken more energy out of him. Just stay calm.'_ With those thoughts she allowed herself to remain composed.

About a dozen more exchanges went by like this, and a slightly labored Hyuuga Hinata decided that her strategy was not working. Apparently, Rock Lee had limitless energy. _'I don't get it. He has been running around like a madman probing my defenses the entire time and he isn't even breathing hard yet? Are his eyebrows some kind of kekkai genkai that gives the user limitless energies?_ _I need to rethink my plans...'_ One of the things that Hinata had noticed was that Lee had a tendency to attack from her right side. She was fairly certain that it was more a force of habit than any sort of nefarious plot on the side of the older genin, so she was pretty sure that she could take advantage of the fact. It was risky, but risks are needed to succeed.

As Hinata predicted, Lees next assault was a feint in order to attack from her right side. Instead of sitting back and attempting to dodge, Hinata took preemptive action and ran forward, closing the gap between the two while Lee was caught flat-footed. Knowing that he would not be able to evade the first strike while also knowing that Hinata was going to target his legs, Lee decided to block the strike, sacrificing one of his arms in exchange for keeping his speed advantage. Lee countered with another of his powerful kicks, which Hinata successfully blocked, but not before staggering back a few feet from the force of the strike, giving Lee time to fall back.

Lee grimaced slightly as he was barely able to move his right arm. _'This is bad.' _ He thought,_'I won't even be able to remove my weights easily with only one arm. I could try using it, but I don't really want to hurt Hinata-san, not to mention that it wouldn't be quite as effective with only one arm.' _Here Lee blinked, coming to a startling realization, _'Actually, with one arm I probably won't be able to inflict permanent damage... forgive me Gai-sensei!'_ With his plan in mind, Lee focused deep within in self, searching for the lock that he possessed the key for...

With her Byakugan active, Hinata the rush of power going through her foe before any of the others. She gulped nervously as she attempted to find a more defensible position. Throughout the arena, those who knew about the hachimon were shocked that a genin could open them. Lee's sensei and idol, Gai, looked slightly pensive, before giving a short nod, as if signaling his agreement of Lee's action.

To the normal spectator, Lee appeared to have vanish into thin air, but with her kekkai genkai Hinata was able to keep track of him...barely. Still, all the preparation in the world proved for naught as Lee seemingly casually broke through her guard with an upwards kick, sending the Hyuuga into the air. With his newly acquired speed, Lee easily managed to catch up with the air-borne Hyuuga, before using his one good hand to loosely wrap her in bandages. With that done, Lee wrapped her into a hug, before starting to spin rapidly as the two descended to the ground. As the ground became nearer, Hinata's struggles against her restraints grew more fierce. With one arm disabled, Lee's hold was much weaker than normal. Because of this, Hinata was able to free one arm, allowing her one jyuuken strike into Lee's unprotected stomach, before the two slammed into the ground.

The two hit the ground like a meteor, causing a large dust cloud to rise from the newly created crater. Nobody knew what to expect. Most of the experienced shinobi knew the power of the **Omote Renge**. Of course they also knew the harmful effects of forcing your body past its limits. Not to mention that last jyuuken strike looked potent. Most expected the end result was a draw, but that theory was scattered like the dust as a silhouette was seen slowly pulling itself out of the large crater.

When the dust finally cleared, it revealed the haggard, but still spirited form of Rock Lee.

The proctor made his way to the crater, checking to make sure the battle was actually over. The unconscious, but relatively uninjured body of Hyuuga Hinata confirmed it. With that, he declared Lee the victor. Most expected the normally exuberant genin to start yelling like Gai, but to their surprise, the battle had apparently sapped his strength, as he quietly made his way to the stands, albeit with a large grin on his face.

The crowd cheered heartily at the match. While Hinata's loss to a relative unknown cost a lot of betters money, the match was enthralling enough for few to actually care. After a brief intermission, the proctor cleared his throat before announcing the next match. "The next match will be between Sabaku no Kankuro and Akimichi Chouji!" He stated over the din of the crowd. While Kankuro had originally been planning on forfeiting, in order to keep his abilities a secret for the upcoming invasion, with Gaara's demand that he not participate in the war, he decided that it couldn't hurt to fight in this battle. Grabbing his favorite puppet, Karisu, Gaara's older brother made his way to the arena.

Chouji was already waiting for him in the arena. Unlike in the preliminaries, Chouji had opted to bring his zanbatou with him. The massive sword was resting comfortably on his back, usable at a moments notice. He had also decided on removing his weights before the fight. While he was by means a fast person without his weights, from what little he knew of his foes puppeteering abilities, projectile weapons and poison attacks were his primary concerns. Any extra boost to his agility would be essential when it came to avoiding the attacks.

The second the battle began, Chouji launched a kunai at his foe, in an attempt to force Kankuro to use one of his puppet's tricks prematurely. The puppeteer easily evaded the throw, before letting out a small sneer. "Is that the best you got, fatty?" He asked, in an attempt to make the Leaf-nin lose focus. While this may have worked against Chouji in the past, the words had no effect on him now. Before he became a genin, Chouji had felt insecure about himself. If somebody had mentioned his faults, Chouji had a tendency to get emotional while attempting to vehemently deny the facts. It wasn't until after the academy that his mindset changed. As he became stronger, the need to feel insecure grew smaller, till he was eventually able to come to grips with the facts. It was true, he had in fact been fat and still was, to a lesser extent. While before that thought would have plagued him, now he instead knew to focus on his strengths. Yes, he was big, but with that size came strength. He knew few people his own age who could easily swing his large sword or punch through a stone wall like he could. So while before the Suna shinobi's comments would have forced him into denial, causing him to think irrationally, he was able to stay calm, while working on a plan of his own.

Chouji threw a smoke bomb a few feet in front of him, presumably in order to unleash his plan without being seen. As the smoke spread throughout the area, Kankuro withdrew a bit in an attempt to gain distance from his foe. His sister had been defeated by a mere smoke bomb by being to aggressive, so he decided to err on the side of caution. A minute or so passed with nothing happening, causing Kankuro to get a bit twitchy. When the smoke finally cleared, it revealed the Akimichi right where he had been when he threw the bomb. The main difference, however, was the fact that the large genin was currently making hand seals at a rapid rate. _'Was he doing that the entire time?' _Pondered Kankuro uneasily, _'A jutsu that takes that many seals... I have to stop him!' _Taking control of his puppet with chakra strings, Kankuro launched a trio of apparently poisonous senbon from a compartment on the puppets chest. He didn't expect them to hit, but he was hoping that it was enough to stop him from completing the dangerous looking jutsu.

He was right.

Seeing the incoming attack, Chouji aborted his jutsu while quickly rolling to the right, causing the senbon to miss. As he got back to his feet, Chouji drew his zanbatou before going into a dead charge. Eyes widening slightly, Kankuro had his puppet launch volley after volley of projectile weapons at the Akimichi. Using a burst of speed that few in the arena had expected from the large person, Chouji was able to avoid all the attacks. As he got closer, the puppeteer smirked. He didn't think he would have to use Karisu's strongest attack against the plump looking genin in the beginning, but it seemed as if he would. Mouth opened wide, the puppet unleashed a large cloud of poison, engulfing the Akimichi within seconds. Chouji's charge ground to a halt as he started coughing uncontrollably. _'The poison isn't fatal if treated, but its more than enough to win this fight.' _Kankuro mused as he watched his foe roll on the ground while struggling to breath.

That was when the Chouji on the ground vanished with a small 'poof.'

As the real Akimichi Chouji burst from underground, he couldn't help but feel elation at his plans overwhelming success. He had taken a great risk in making that Kage Bunshin, seeing as how it was a large dent in his chakra reserves, but it had paid off. While the fake Chouji started performing random hand seals to confuse and alarm his foe, the real Chouji had gone underground in order to stealthily close the gap with his foe. With the success of his plan, Chouji now found himself in striking range of his foe. _'I guess after hanging out with Shikamaru and Naruto all this time I was bound to pick up a few things.'_

While Chouji had no intentions of killing his foe, he had no qualm against using his zanbatou on the helpless Karisu. Kankuro attempted to withdraw his puppet before the attack, but he was far to late. With one mighty blow, Karisu crumpled to the ground, severed in two. In a last ditch effort at victory, Kankuro tried commanding the larger half of his puppet to attack. Seeing his plan, Chouji unleashed another hack on the doll. Seeing victory as a very slim thing and not wanting to damage his puppet any further, Kankuro raised his hand in a gesture of surrender.

"Winner, Akimichi Chouji!" Stated the proctor, causing Chouji to beam. The crowd responded positively to the battle. Although it wasn't as exciting as the previous fight, seeing a Leaf-nin beat a shinobi from another village was something that everybody in the stands (save the few foreigners in attendance) enjoyed seeing.

As the two kunoichi involved in the third match made their way to the arena, the people in the stadium started to converse amongst each other. With his keen sense of hearing, Naruto picked out one of the conversations between two chunin.

"So who do you got for this one?" The first man asked.

"Eh," Naruto assumed the second person shrugged here, "I don't know much about either one, but I did put five-thousand on the bunned girl."

"Oh? And why did you pick her, Ryu?" Said the first person, with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Honestly, I just went with the experience. Plus it doesn't hurt that her jounin instructor is Maito Gai."

"I dunno. The Yamanaka's sensei is the Kazama kid. I heard from Yuki-chan that he was even crazier than Gai. Apparently she saw them training once and that the routine was almost as bad as the one that we go through. And we have been chunin for four years!"

"Your kidding?" Ryu yelped incredulously. "Do you think he remembered that not everybody has a nine-tailed power source sealed inside of them?"

Naruto blinked a few times at that last comment. Grudgingly he did have to admit to himself that he rarely considered the fact when devising an effective training schedule for his team. _'Still, its not like it was a big deal, right?'_ As he thought that he started to consider the sheer amount of times that one of the trio either passed out from exhaustion or ended up in the hospital from some sort of grievous injury. _'Well... at least they all survived...barely.' _ With that, he shrugged. After all it was, in the words of one of his students, to troublesome to really think about.

Down in the arena, Ino was currently glaring at her foe. Even after a month, the idea of her sensei giving priceless weapons to some other kunoichi irked her to no end. It was especially annoying considering that she had been training with blades since being assigned to Team Ten, which means that she would have had dibs on it! Of course a jealous part of Ino's mind didn't care about the sword itself, just the fact that her sensei was getting a little to chummy with another girl of their age...

Having a vague idea as to what was causing her foe such inner turmoil, Tenten decided to rub it in. "I see you have a sword also. It has been a while since I sparred with another kenjutsu user. As a matter of fact, the last time I can recall doing so was against Naruto-_kun,_ shortly before he gave me the Raijin." She placed a special emphasis on the suffix which helped to rile up her blonde foe even more.

"Hmph, just because he gave you a stupid sword doesn't mean you are special. He probably just pitied your atrocious skills. Your just jealous that hes my sensei while you are stuck with that eyebrowed-mutant!" Countered Ino, causing the slightly older genin to narrow her eyes dangerously.

"That may be true," Tenten conceded, "which is why I will beat you and make chunin. That way I will be free from my team. Seeing as how he is one of the few kenjutsu masters in the village, I may indeed spend a lot of my time with him. Not to mention he doesn't seem like a bad guy at all..." She trailed off. Although she really didn't know the young Kazama that well at all, she did mean what she said.

The conversation between the two continued to get more and more violent with each exchange, causing the poor proctor to sweatdrop. "I didn't know I was getting paid to referee a cat fight." He muttered to himself. Unfortunately, his words carried surprisingly well in the noisy arena, causing both girls to hear. If looks could kill, the glare coming from the two kunoichi would have caused the jounin to choke to death on his own senbon. Shaking off the feeling of dread, he gave the signal to start.

Almost immediately, Ino was forced to dive to the side to avoid a quickly launched barrage of pointy projectiles from the weapon's mistress. Tenten didn't relent, unleashing wave after wave of kunai and shuriken. While Ino did manage to avoid any serious damage from the relentless assault, she didn't emerge fully unscathed. _'Grr... I know I can't beat her with missiles, but facing off against that damnable sword in melee is suicide. I don't know any genjutsu that would be effective in this situation, so I guess I will need to win using ninjutsu.' _ Of course Ino knew that it would be tricky, seeing as she didn't possess that many ninjutsu techniques. Squaring her shoulders while deflecting a shuriken that came a little to close to her face with a kunai, she prepared to stay on the defensive until the opportunity to counter arose...

On the other side, Tenten was enjoying her current success immensely. Although she had been caught off guard by her foes surprising speed, it wasn't nearly at Lee's level, so she was able to adjust. She narrowed her eyes in frustration as Ino pulled off a rather dazzling acrobatic display to evade a kunai that looked destined for her leg. Although her weapons supply was nearly limitless while Ino's endurance was not, Tenten did not relish the idea of giving Ino the chance to come up with a plan to turn the tides. With that thought in mind, the kunoichi of Team Gai pulled out two identical scrolls in preparation for her strongest technique.

Ino narrowed her eyes at this most recent development. Although she hid it as much as she could, she was getting very fatigued from the constant evasion. As Tenten started to form hand seals, Ino had a funny feeling that the next few seconds will be the deciding ones of the battle. With a cry of "**Soshoryu,**" the two scrolls exploded like a pair of over sized smoke bombs. The blonde kunoichi watched in morbid fascination as a pair of smoky dragons emerged from the smoke. As the duo reached the height of their flight they changed back into their scroll forms. Leaping into the air, Tenten started to rapidly pull out a variety of weapons, which she launched at Ino.

As she watched the cloud of weapons rapidly advance on her, Ino searched for a means for escape, while making a mental note to thank Shikamaru. Being around her teammates for so long caused a few of their habits to rub off on her, apparently including Shikamaru's ability to remain lazily calm in the face of near-certain death. Unfortunately, every directions that she looked held nothing except incoming weapons, other than down of course. _'Wait... Down!!'_ Ino grinned in triumph as she, like Chouji before, went under the earth for cover from the incoming attack.

As soon as the barrage was finished, Ino emerged from the underground much closer to where Tenten had landed after using her attack. Since she still had strings attached to all of the weapons, it was a simple matter for Tenten to refocus the weapons on her opponent. During this time, however, Ino had not been sitting by idly, instead forming the seals for her family's primary jutsu, the **Shintenshin**. Because of the close proximity, alongside the fact that her foe was stationary, she was able to score a hit with the slow moving jutsu, easily forcing herself into the mind of her foe.

That was when Ino, inside of Tenten's body, realized the dangerous situation that she was in. The volley of weapons was still heading towards her now abandoned body. She couldn't just stop the attack either, because most of the weapons had detached themselves from the string because of the lack of focus caused during that brief period where she was taking control of the body. There wasn't nearly enough time to just cancel the **Shintenshin**, either. Seeing no other alternative, 'Tenten' threw herself on the prone body of Ino, covering the vital locations on both kunoichi's bodies.

The end result was rather predictable, as both bodies were heavily damaged by the assault. Neither were in any condition to continue, so the proctor had no choice except to end the fight in a draw. Medical teams hastily took the two bloody genin to the arena infirmary.

"Will Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Gaara please make their way to the arena." Called out the proctor, much to the chagrin of the shadow user. From where Naruto was sitting, he could clearly see the indecision on Shikamaru's face and for once couldn't blame him. Still, he wasn't about to let his final student forfeit before even fighting.

"Oy, Shikamaru," yelled Naruto, causing many heads to turn in his direction, "I had Gaara promise not to kill you, so go fight!" Hearing that, Shikamaru sweatdropped, _'Thats awfully encouraging to know that my sensei has absolutely no faith in me.'_ Here he took a quick glance at the emotionless face of Gaara, who had used his **Suna Shunshin** to teleport onto the battlefield, and shuddered slightly, _'Still, I guess I should be grateful. It's not like I think I can win either.'_ With that in mind, he lazily strolled down to the battlefield, much to the chagrin of the impatient crowd.

The two fighters made an amusing contrast to each other. On one side was Gaara, looking every bit the psychotic super killing machine that he is. Opposite of him, lazily standing there with hands in pocket, was Shikamaru. Deciding that the young Nara was as ready as he was going to be, the signal to begin was given.

Right off the bat Shikamaru was running for his life, as wave after wave of sand came crashing down on him. Dodging the attack, the Nara sent a tendril of shadows toward his opponent. Gaara never flinched as the shadow easily attached itself to him. Shikamaru couldn't help but think that it was to easy, but there was nothing else to do but to follow the course. Drawing a kunai, Shikamaru deftly launched it at the prone jinchuuriki. Shikamaru had been expecting many things, but the sand that formed to shield the Suna-shinobi was not one of them. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he launched another attack, this one being a trio of shuriken. Again, Gaara remained unharmed as the sand shielded him from the attack. Although Shikamaru knew he could hold the Suna genin for a few minutes, he released the **Kagemane**, seeing the futility in his head on attack.

Yet again Shikamaru found himself flying around the now ruined battleground in an attempt to dodge the blasts of sand headed at him, while attempting to think up a plan to get around the shield of sand that Gaara seemed to possess. _'From what I saw his shield uses the same sand each time. I may not have the speed or strength to overcome it, but perhaps attacking from different angles at the same time will cause his defense to either miss an attack or stretch itself thin enough that I can penetrate it? Even if this fails I can at definitely use the brief respite._ Leaping to avoid a particularly dangerous sand attack, Shikamaru decided to test his hypothesis.

Using his sensei's trademark jutsu, Shikamaru formed a lone kage bunshin, which he had retreat to safety. After doing this, he again unleashed his shadow on the still motionless Shukaku container. Again he trapped Gaara with his **Kagemane**. With this accomplished, his kage bunshin circled around his foe, coming to a stop directly behind him. Once they were in position, both Shikamarus pulled out a kunai, before attaching an exploding tag to the throwing knives. Because he was being controlled, Gaara mimicked the actions, but since he lacked a kunai holster, Shikamaru had no fear of retaliation. Both master and clone launched their kunai at the same moment. The strategist of Team Ten watched with some satisfaction as the sand shield easily stopped his kunai while letting the bunshin's kunai go unabated. The knife embedded itself into Gaara's back, but the Suna shinobi gave no indication of being hurt. That changed as the weapon exploded, sending Gaara flying head over heels.

As he picked himself off the ground, Gaara stared at his foe with an expression of disbelief. Although that last attack failed to penetrate his **Suna no Yoroi**, it still hurt like hell! Gaara could barely remember the last time he felt physical pain. Needless to say, the demon within him was screaming for blood, but Gaara was just able to refrain from unleashing the power of the Ichibi no Shukaku and turning the Leaf-nin into a bloody mess, as he had promised the other jinchuuriki.

Shikamaru sighed as he watched his foe rise to his feet. For a second there he thought his plan had been successful, but it was not to be. What kind of psycho has not one, but two layers of nearly impenetrable defenses anyway? Thankfully, one of Shikamaru's best traits was his lack of an ego. Because of this, he was easily able to come to grips with the fact that he was horribly outclassed in this fight. _'I honestly doubt my **Kagemane** would have held him for long if he wanted to get free.'_ He mused grimly. Still, its not like he really coveted the rank of chunin, merely seeing it as a way to get his mother to stop nagging at him for a while. With that thought in mind, he raised his hand as a gesture of surrender.

Thats when a large-scale genjutsu was cast in the arena, promptly followed by many explosions.

_'Just as I was about to go lay down and watch clouds, some bastard decided to invade. How troublesome...'_

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Omote Renge:** Initial Lotus

**Suna Shunshin: **Sand Body Flicker

**Suna no Yoroi:** Armor of Sand

A/N: Finally got this one completed! Sorry for the delay after promising to not take so long last chapter, but I wasn't expecting this one to drag on as long as it did. Not to mention I have discovered that it is insanely hard to sit and write for long stretches of time when its so unbearably cold. Useless winter. I didn't even give this chapter a thorough proofread because of the coldness seeping through my bodies. Hopefully its not to bad off.

Parts of this chapter may seem rushed, but thats because it was. Writing about things that happen in canon is so utterly dull. As much as I wanted to skip the entire chunin exam arc, I just didn't see a way to do it feasibly. I managed to put my own spin on it by coming up with mostly different fights, but it was still a tedious process. Thankfully, its finally over, and even though theres still a few crucial canon arcs to go before I can go all original again, I don't think they will be nearly as dull for me to write. Another thing that annoyed the hell out of me these last few chapters was the fact that this fic was quickly becoming a team ten-centric fic, when it was (and will be once again) a Naruto-centric story. While everybody loves the Ino-Shika-Cho... this isn't their story. They will still be the most used characters in this story, (aside from Naruto) but now that the exams are over, expect their roles to be diminished.


End file.
